SAO : The Others
by bitchbot
Summary: Towering over her peers, Kat was no stranger to loneliness—even when dancing on stage. When her attempt to escape shackles her, she must come to terms with a new reality.
1. Chapter 1

**Floor 1**

* * *

I glanced at the packed line of those who weren't able to preorder Sword Art Online. They didn't know it yet, but they were the luckiest ones here. The walk up line had been queued for hours, each person praying there would be a game left for them. Their body language was creating an anxious atmosphere at what should have been an exciting event. In the end, there would be no copies leftover.

I didn't know it yet, but soon I would be fighting for my life. I'm not sure what my father was thinking when he gave me the preorder ticket for a copy of SAO. In my sixteen years of life, I had never played a video game. Maybe he felt sympathetic because I had no friends. Or perhaps it was a job well done for ranking first in my class, again. Whatever his thought process, he had my best interest in mind, I'm sure of it.

I brought my hands to my mouth and blew against them in a feeble attempt to keep them warm. A shiver ran down my spine and I wiggled my shoulders in response. _God, it's abnormally cold for November._

A store employee began to holler directions at the preorder line—walk to the cashier in an orderly fashion, don't push others. I was reminded of preschool, and I had to stifle a giggle.

Our line cheered as the rope governing us was pulled back. We received dirty looks from those who weren't able to preorder one of the ten thousand copies that had been produced. The line started to move and the others didn't mind the employee's instructions to not shove. It bothered me, but I wasn't the type for confrontation.

I reached the cashier and pulled the pre-order receipt out of my purse. The upset look on her face made it clear she was not interested in conversation, which was good, because I wasn't one for talking. She apathetically thanked me for choosing their store and passed my bag over the counter.

Walking out, a man offered me one million yen for my copy of SAO. I politely declined. It wasn't as if my family had financial trouble. My father is Chief Financial Officer of RECT, a company partnered with Argus, who produces SAO. I slipped the game inside my purse, just in case others weren't as kind.

Another shiver ran through my body as the wind chill cut through my coat. _The cold weather is making fun of me for not wearing another layer._ At 115 pounds, I didn't handle cold very well. Fortunately for me, the train station was less than a block away from the store.

My long hair almost caught in the train doors as it shut. I grabbed at the messy strands with one hand, trying to put them back into place. My other hand fumbled for a hanging strap, and I let out a sigh. Being around that many people drained all of my energy. I focused my eyes on a spot on the floor and zoned out, exhausted from the night's activities.

Fits of giggles rang out from two seats over. In my peripheral vision I saw a group of girls my age.

"But how do you think she dates if she's taller than all the boys in Japan?" One remarked.

My cheeks burned red at the realization they were talking about me. It wasn't my fault I was 5'10." I wasn't of Japanese descent, and, unfortunately for me, my entire family was tall. Although my family had moved to Japan when I was two, I was still considered Gaijin—a foreigner.

"Stop it, Mayumi! She can hear us," Her friend hissed.

"It's not like she understands us. She's probably just an exchange student."

Not only could I understand them, but I would also bet my grade in Japanese class was higher. I wanted to badly to open my mouth and say something. The words didn't come—they never did.

For a moment, I wondered what it would be like to have friends in high school. At school I listened to other girls talk about going to karaoke, shopping, and eating at restaurants together. I quickly pushed the thought out of my head. It wasn't going to happen for me.

Friends are not a priority. The most important thing in my life was ballet. Because of my hard work, I had finally accomplished my goal. The Tokyo Ballet had hired me to be a Principal Dancer—the head honcho of all the ballerinas. I had to wait until my eighteenth birthday, which was a year and change away, but I had still done it.

If I had friends, I wouldn't keep my number one position in ballet and school. I glanced out the train window. _Was all of the work worth it if I have no one to share it with?_

Poor little rich girl.

* * *

My ballet lesson had passed painfully slow that day. The SAO servers opened at one, and I had nearly ran down the street in my pointe shoes to get home on time.

It was 12:55 and I sat on my bed, listening to each painful tick of my wall clock's second hand.

Somehow, these last five minutes were a harder wait than the entire day. I rolled on my stomach and tapped my forehead against the pillow, wishing the last few minutes would speed up. When I looked up and only thirty seconds had passed, I decided it was best to occupy my time.

I grabbed the user's manual off my nightstand and began to flick through the pages. It would be best to not go into the game with no knowledge. I read through a myriad of different commands, doing my best to keep track.

I had became so engrossed with the user's manual that I didn't notice one o'clock had passed. It was by chance that I glanced up and noticed it was 1:06. I cursed and threw the manual back on the nightstand.

I shoved the helmet on my head and took a deep breath. "Link, Start!"

And with those two words, I secured my fate. I began flying through a kaleidoscope of different cylinder lengths, until I reached the menu screen. An NPC dressed as a knight greeted me.

"Welcome to Sword Art Online," he said. "Please prepare your avatar or select 'Random' to have one generated for you!"

"Uhm...okay," I squeaked.

He laughed. "Don't be nervous now, soon you'll be the best swordswoman in all of Aincrad!"

I began to design a female avatar. The only requirement I had when making her was that I wanted her to look nothing like me—she would be stunningly beautiful.

Pleased with my work, I looked at the NPC. "Um, I'm finished now."

"Not quite, Miss! You don't have a character name!"

"Oh!"

I stabbed at the 'Please Enter a Character Name:' box, and quickly typed in 'Katsuki.'

"Alright, Katsuki, are you ready to start your adventure?" The NPC asked.

I nodded in response.

"You are now being teleported to Floor 1: Town of Beginnings," The knight said. "Enjoy your time!"

"Thank—" I tried to show my appreciation, but I had been sent to the middle of a bustling market.

My mouth dropped at the realism of the scene around me. NPC's called out to players, offering their goods and services. Two armor vendors placed unfortunately close to one another each declared they had the best prices. Players egged their verbal undercutting on, wanting to get their items at the lowest possible price.

"Step right up, Missy!" A sleazy NPC grabbed my arm.

"Ah!"

"Don't worry, we're just playing a game! You solve this problem and you win some Cor. Easy, right?!"

My lack of response irritated him.

"Well you look like a smart one to me! Only a fee of 50 Cor, lets play!"

"I'd rather n—" I started, but he dragged me on to the stage.

I shifted uncomfortably on the wooden platform. The cheap planks creaked under my skinny body. _If it's creaking under me, what will it do for someone of normal weight?_

"Alright Missy, you just have to solve this puzzle and you'll win a fabulous prize of 5000 Cor!" The NPC had put on his best announcer voice, "Let's give it up for Missy!"

The small group of players in the area cheered and my face began to burn. The puzzle was probably rigged, and I was designed to lose 50 Cor.

"Here you go, Missy!"

With a flick of his hand he rotated a board, and a word problem was etched into its back.

 _In The Town of Beginnings, 46% of players buy a sword and 22% buy a shield. 18% buy both. What are the chances a player buys neither a sword nor a shield?_

"Seriously?" I looked at the NPC.

"Oh no Missy, don't tell me you're bad at math!"

He began to chuckle, and the crowd followed. The crimson began to return to my cheeks. But, the NPC had mistook the tone of my voice.

"Fifty percent. It's fifty percent of players," I stated.

The NPC had asked a basic statistics problem. He should have asked a linear algebra question if he wanted to confuse me.

He glared at me. "Well, well now, Missy, it appears as though you're right."

The roar of the crowd gave me a small feeling of redemption as 5,000 Cor was deposited to my account.

The NPC's glare burned into my back as I scurried off stage. But, the few moments of public humiliation had been worth the extra Cor.

I turned into a more secluded area of the market and exhaled. Even though they were digital, being around this many people was still overwhelming. I took the quiet moment to examine the user interface of SAO.

A knight and his friend walked down the alley, completely oblivious to my presence.

"We're going to beat these bosses so easy, man!" The knight exclaimed.

"Right? We'll be clearing the third level by tomorrow."

"Maybe not, I have to log out and do some homework. Stupid as hell."

"Just forget about it for tonight, man!"

I had forgotten that I needed a weapon. It had been less than thirty minutes, but I already felt like a failure. _Who's going to want to be my friend if can't even remember to buy a weapon?_

I took my time strolling through the weapons vendors. I wasn't able to put my finger on what I was looking for, so I would move on from every stall. There was no doubt I had passed plenty of good swords. Was I being too picky, or was there nothing meant for me?

The more respectable looking vendors had ended, and I reached a row of shabby NPC's selling their wares. A bronze flicker caught my eye as I turned to leave.

Although the store was run down, I decided to keep my mind open. I scanned the merchandise until I found it—a bronze sword with jade on the handle.

"Looking at that sword, Dearie?"

"Eep!" I shrieked, jumping sideways.

An old woman in tattered clothes stood behind me. "Didn't mean to give ya a fright, now," She said with a lopsided smile.

In fact, everything about her appeared to be asymmetrical. The shape of her nose was as if it had been broken many times. Each tooth was crooked in a different direction.

I stared at her, failing to respond.

"Cat got ya tongue, Dearie?"

"Eh? Um, no...I just wanted to see how much this sword was, please." I gestured towards the bronze sword.

"Oh yes, beautiful piece of work, 'innit? For ya, Dearie, 4,500 Cor."

I sharply inhaled. If I bought it, it would almost zero out what I just won.

"...Can I try it?" I asked.

The old woman nodded, her thin white hair swaying back and forth.

I picked the sword up, unsure of what to do. Although it was large in size, it was extremely light. In a feeble attempt to "test" it, I extended the weapon outward and almost knocked down her merchandise.

"Left handed now, aren't ya Dearie?"

 _Bless her for not commenting on my cluelessness._

"Oh...yes I am." I said with a small smile. "I'll take this sword, please."

"Gladly, Dearie. I'll alsa' give ya this leatha' holda' for free! It was made to be with the sword, it'd be a shame if they'wa separated! Ya'just put it on like this!"

With no hesitation to invade my personal space, she wrapped the X-shaped strap around my chest and fastened it in the back.

"Thank...thank you," I coughed, the leather straps bound just a bit too tight.

"Right-O, Dearie. Do learn to use it. There are danjas' in this world that no'one could foresee."

I nodded, thanked her again, and left. As I strolled down the streets of the Town of Beginnings, I wondered what she meant by that. It must be some NPC thing to create suspense.

A man talking to his friend ran into me, and I fell to the ground.

"Dude, the fucking logout button is busted!" Although his avatar looked mid-twenties, his pattern of speech was clearly that of a preteen.

"It's okay, it's probably just a glitch. They'll patch it in a few hours," The friend responded, trying to pacify him.

"A few hours?! I promised my mom I'd be back in fifteen minutes!"

They were far too engrossed in their conversation to apologize, and I wasn't going to say anything. I let out a sigh as I picked myself up, and smoothed my linen dress to remove the wrinkles.

Was the logout button really not functioning? An empty slot greeted me when I opened my menu. _Oh well._ I had no plans to leave in the immediate future. They should have it fixed by the time I'm ready to go.

I looked out the main gates of the Town of Beginnings, and down at my sword. I should probably learn how to use it.

* * *

The grassy plains outside the Town of Beginnings rustled as I practiced my sword skills. I attempted to recollect as much of the manual's information as possible. First, put myself in Pre-Motion for the strike. Next, set my sword skill. I chose Slant and plunged into the air. Messy would be a polite way to describe the motion.

I swung my weapon around a few more times, trying to get comfortable with the new feeling. Although it would likely hit something, my strikes were extremely sloppy.

In need of verification, I set my sights on a boar roaming in the grass. To put it nicely, my first battle was a bit of a learning curve. I had —what I thought at the time— an irrational fear of the boar, even though I knew it was digital. When I approached it, it squealed and charged. I was too afraid to swing, and the boar knocked me over. I watched fifteen HP drop as I trembled on the ground.

 _Why am I so afraid? This is simulated._

I stood up, embarrassed, but determined to succeed. The boar snorted and looked me in the eye, silently asking if I wanted more. I nodded in affirmation as I walked towards him. He squealed and charged, and the two of us collided. My blade plunged into his abdomen, and the boar transformed into digital pieces. I was awestruck as I watched the blue particles fall around me.

A message appeared on my menu, letting me know I had received **Boar Meat** and **Leather**. I stabbed at the air with my finger, trying to make it disappear. I missed, and accidentally selected the item—as it turned out, if you tap on an item it showed the quality. It was poor, of course.

After the first boar, I was unstoppable. I still wasn't any good, but I wanted to _be_ good. When **Level Up!** appeared, I decided it was time for a break. I sat on the grassy plains and took a moment to enjoy the view. Northwest from The Town of Beginnings there was a large forest region. When I looked northeast, there was a lake that spanned as far as the horizon.

Movement out of the corner of my eye distracted me. I focused my vision back on the grassy plains, and saw two men spearing a boar. Upon closer inspection, it appeared one was teaching the other. I giggled to myself as the student got knocked on his ass. But I had been in his position just a an hour prior.

I stood up and stretched. I should head back into town and grab health potions and—

Suddenly, I was in the center of The Town of Beginnings. _An involuntary teleport?_ As I examined my surroundings, I estimated that all ten thousand SAO players must be in the area. _If this is an introductory event, they could have at least told us about it._

My stomach dropped as I watched the sky start to bleed red.


	2. Chapter 2

**Floor 1**

* * *

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba. And as of this moment, I am in control of this world." An ominous voice spoke from above the players.

Kayaba was the creator of Sword Art Online. There was no indication that he was inserting himself as a character, so this introduction was sudden, to say the least. His choice of character was eerie—he looked more like a monster than a player. Kayaba was about sixty feet tall, and had his face hidden under a cloak that resembled the Grim Reaper's. It wasn't the warmest welcome to the first VRMMORPG.

"I'm sure most of you have already noticed an item missing from your main menus—the logout button," he continued. "Let me assure you, this is not a defect in the game. I repeat, this is not a defect. This is how 'Sword Art Online' was designed to be."

 _Not a defect?_ What could he possibly mean by that? Perhaps a player had to be logged in for a minimum amount of time before they could log out.

"You cannot log yourselves out of SAO, and no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the NerveGear from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the NerveGear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life."

 _Surely, he's not serious. There's no way I can die in a video game._

"Last but not least, I've placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Please have a look."

A mirror was in my inventory. _What the hell is this for?_ I took it out of my inventory and peered into it, unsure of what to expect. My stomach turned when I saw my reflection. The beautiful Katsuki no longer existed. I was regular Kat again, with my tangles of plain brown hair and overly pale skin. I gasped and dropped the mirror, and it shattered into digital pieces.

"As you can see, I have achieved my goal. This marks the end of the tutorial and the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck." With those parting words, Kayaba vanished.

 _Is this real? This can't be real._ Players around me seemed to be wondering the same thing. There were hushed whispers about how this was a hoax and someone must have hacked the server. No one would actually create a death game.

Suddenly, a boy next to me burst into digital fragments—the animation for when a player died in game. The action snapped me out of the trance I was in. My stomach churned with the realization that Kayaba was in fact, being serious.

After people began to realize that this wasn't a joke, panic quickly set in. The horde of players gathered in the town square quickly became a mob. They began shoving each other in an attempt to escape—even though there was nowhere to go. Particularly clever players took the moment to steal weapons and various items from others.

Luck was with me—I had been placed on the outskirts of the crowd. I somehow managed to get my legs working, although I wasn't sure where they were taking me. I passed countless NPC shops until I found my way back to the vendors I was at earlier. Perhaps my subconscious went to the only place it knew.

There was a back alley with nothing but crates, and I darted into it as fast as possible, praying no one would see me. I had no idea what I should do, but I did know I shouldn't be around other players. This was mass chaos, and players wouldn't hesitate to hurt —or worse— others if it meant saving their own skin.

I fell to my knees behind the crates and began to dry heave. Vomit spewed out of my mouth, and chunks caught in my hair and dress. Although it came out digital, it had the same smell as in the real world. It was foul, but a nice touch on Kayaba's part.

All I wanted was to have fun and maybe make some online friends. I didn't ask to be sent to a death game. _What if my parents take my NerveGear off?_ Kayaba said he sent out a warning to the public, but 213 players had died because people close to them didn't heed the warning.

Assuming my parents didn't rip it off, I would probably still die. My only way out of here was conquering the 100th floor. _And I have no idea what I'm doing._ It would be impossible to reach that far if I could barely take out a boar. I let out a sob, and digital tears began to fall.

"You stupid things." I wiped them off my face. "You aren't even real!"

"Now now, Dearie, what's real and what's not can sometimes be a'bit blurred." I looked up to see the old woman from earlier in the day.

"Well this," I said. "Is pretty fucking blurry. I'm a computerized version of myself, trying to keep my real self alive. Not only that, but I'm talking to script. Or are you code? I don't even know!" Computer science had been my hardest subject in high school, and I quickly purged the information from my mind.

"Eh, who knows." The hexagonal warning signs had cleared and she looked at the sun. "What are ya plans, Dearie?"

 _What are ya plans, Dearie?_ I internally mocked her, because hell if I knew. Short term was to stay curled up behind this crate and pray everything was a hoax. I chose a politer option. "I don't know."

"Stayin 'ere doesn't seem very wise, eh? All that commotion goin' on could land'ya in a bad place."

I was angry at her for stating the obvious. Angry because I hadn't thought about it. "Probably."

"So whaddaya think ya should do, Dearie?"

 _Get the hell out of here, obviously._ I could head into the forest towards Horunka. There would be plenty of creatures to kill to gain XP and—I put my face in my knees. "It doesn't matter what I think I should do. I'm too weak to do it."

"It seems as though most of'ya weakness is in ya head," she said.

I glared at her. "Easy for you to say. You won't die when your HP bar hits zero."

"Seems'ta be that way." I could see every crooked tooth as she gave me a warm smile. "I have faith in ya, Dearie. This—" she gestured to a gate in the castle's wall— "is an entrance to tha' sewers. The exit puts ya' out around tha' forest. Foul, but ya' don't want to go back in tha' city ri'now."

"I won't survive." I tried to emphasize the anger in my voice.

"Sure ya' will, Dearie!" Without asking, she grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet.

"I told you I—" I listed why I couldn't, shouldn't, and wouldn't leave these castle's walls. The old woman simply ignored me as she turned to the sewer gate. The small opening was against the exterior wall of the castle, and three long bars blocked players from entering. I added it to my list of protests.

She grabbed the metal bar and swung it out with ease, and I was taken aback by the old woman's strength. But she was a simulated character, so I couldn't really judge by her looks.

"Go on, now! Ya've gotta long journey ahead a'ya!" She ushered me into the sewers despite my protests, then quickly brought the bar down.

"You can't just leave me!" I cried.

"Dearie, if I stand 'ere all day ya'll never go! Good luck for wha' lies ahead." She passed a few bottles through the posts. "And take these 'ealing potions. Ya might accidentally get ya'self in a sticky situation!"

And with that, she turned and left. I called for her to come back, but she didn't acknowledge me. My tears started again, because she was the only kindness I'd known in this game, and she was leaving me. I was now officially alone. My tears got heavier as I realized my ungratefulness.

I needed to overcome my panic and be rational. I attempted to calm myself by inhaling and exhaling slowly. It came out as short bursts, but it seemed to work a bit.

I examined the inside of the sewer. The pipe appeared to be a straight shot, with no interconnecting lines I could turn into and get lost. But the sewer pipes were just that—a sewer. I was knee high in waste that smelled surprisingly real for a game. The smell was incentive enough to start moving.

As I trudged forward into the darkness of the pipes, the circumference became smaller—crouching would be my only option. I unclipped my sword from my back and started crawling on my knees, praying I would reach the end soon. My prayers were answered when I saw a small beam of light shining into the tunnel. I shimmied through the exit, grateful for my small size. If it had been anyone bigger, they wouldn't have been able to fit.

After crawling for so long, extending my legs felt absolutely amazing. I stretched as I observed my surroundings. A mile ahead of me there was the forest, with a few boars leading to it. But I assumed there were much worse things lurking inside the forest. My stomach twisted in knots thinking about the possibilities. _If I mess up, even once, I'll be the dead one._ I tried to shake the thoughts out of my head as I used my dress to wipe the sewage off my sword. It was time to go.

* * *

I panted as I raced through the forest on the first floor. I had wasted no time traveling, always sprinting unless I needed to kill a foe that stood in my path. Thankfully, everything I had encountered was low-level—I didn't know what I'd had done if I encountered a higher-level beast.

It would be possible to reach Horunka around dawn if I kept the same pace, but I was concerned about my energy level. My energy bar was approaching the yellow zone, and the only way to raise it would be if I rested. And I was not about to sleep in this forest, especially by myself. I decided to lean against a tree for a bit—it wasn't like a short break would kill me.

"Famous last words…" I muttered to myself.

After all the running I had done, my hair was a tangled mess. Well, more so than usual. It matted to the back of my neck and face and obstructed my ability to see. I instinctively reached for a hair tie, but then remembered where I was.

"Ugh!" I yelled to no one in particular.

 _What the hell am I going to do with this mess?_ My hair even gave me issues in a virtual world.I lightly banged my head against the tree as I contemplated what to do. Before I could overthink it, I grabbed a small section in the front and french braided from my left part down my hairline. I didn't have a hair tie to hold the braid in place, but my hair was so coarse it shouldn't be a problem. _If I hadn't dropped the mirror, I could have fixed this. I'm so—_

A girls scream echoed through the forest, tearing me from my vain thoughts. _Someone else left The Town of Beginnings?_ Well, that was a stupid thought. There were ten thousand players, it was very likely someone else had left.

She had made the same decision as I had, but it sounded like she was having a very different outcome. I bit my lip, wondering what I should do. Who knew what was happening to the girl? It could be a high-level monster that even ten players combined couldn't defeat. Better one than both of us dead.

 _Still._ The male to female ratio had spiked after Kayaba had revealed our identities. My conscience would be so heavy if I left one of the few females players to die. My head was swamped with conflicting thoughts. Another scream rang out, forcing me to decide. My legs impulsively began to move towards the noise. _What the hell am I doing?_ I had no idea what I was running towards, let alone a plan for when I got there.

I reached my destination and stood behind the shrubbery. The plan was to come in and slay whatever creature was there, thus saving the girl. But I was no hero. I couldn't see the battle from my location, so I didn't know what was attacking her.

I looked to the sky and stomped my foot. _What do I do?_ If there was a higher power, now would be a great time for a miracle. While looking up for an absolute being, I also noticed trees. _Trees!_ I grabbed on to the closest one and scaled the trunk, mentally kicking myself for not thinking of it earlier. I would just view the situation from above, and assess what to do from there. I gracefully leaped between branches, trying to get closer to the scene. Fighting was difficult in this game, but climbing was extremely easy.

The first thing I noticed was that there was not one, but two girls. The first was cowering in the back of the fight and not contributing. When she shrieked, I knew where the screaming had been coming from. The other girl was an axe wielder, and she was attacking with everything she had. Things for her were looking grim—her HP bar was in the orange, and I could tell she was exhausted from fighting.

I froze when I realized how strong the creature was. There had been many dire wolves in this forest. But this particular one was mutated, and was about two times the size of a normal dire wolf. It also walked on its hind legs rather than all four paws. The monster's HP bar was five times larger than normal—it was beyond my skill level. I wouldn't be able to help the girls. Even if I contributed, we would still lose.

Although it broke my heart, I had to leave. I adjusted my position on the branch, trying to turn around. The branch let out a loud crack and fell to the ground, taking me with it. I had landed in the middle of a battle I could not win.


	3. Chapter 3

**Floor 1**

* * *

I landed with a hard thud in the middle of the battlefield.

"Ow…" I mumbled, assessing the damage. My skirt was ripped and I had a few scrapes, but other than that I looked okay.

My sudden entrance had distracted the beast from the axe wielding girl, and it was now staring me directly in the eyes. Petrified wasn't even close to describe the fear that was coursing through my body. The menacing look the monster was giving me had my legs rooted to the ground. As the mutated dire wolf began to run towards me, my body finally responded. I leaped from the ground and positioned myself in a fighting stance as it charged me.

My body trembled as it rushed toward me. I wasn't going to be the victor in this fight, even if both girls fought with me. The sound of the beast's hooves drawing near was making me sick to my stomach all over again. It snarled as it came within attacking proximity, and instead of fighting back, I dodged. I leaped straight over the beast and towards the girls.

"RUN!" I said.

"What?!" The axe wielding girl exclaimed. She had long coral hair in a braid, and was heaving from exhaustion.

"I said run!" I ran towards her and grabbed her hand.

"Absolutely not—" She protested, but was silenced when I pulled her along with me. I made a beeline for the cowering girl and grabbed her hand. She had the same long coral hair as the braided girl, but hers was styled in a half up, half down fashion. From what I could tell, they were sisters.

"What the hell are you doing?" The braided girl yelled at me as I dragged her and her sister through the forest.

"Faster!" I yelled, darting between the trees. As agile as I was, holding both of their hands was, quite frankly, impeding my ability to escape. I tried desperately to remember the path I had taken while ignoring the hooves of the beast behind us. The route had been lost long ago while weaving in and out of the trees.

There was a mossy embankment to our left. The hill was extremely steep, but I had to gamble that the dire wolf's programming wasn't able to take that path and would have to reroute itself.

"Brace yourselves!" I charged towards it at full force, and the three of us flew down the embankment.

"What the fu—" The braided girl exclaimed as her sister let out a scream.

The steep decline of the hill was covered in slippery moss that made us catch air at points. Fortunately, bushes lined the bottom of the embankment.

"Oomph!" I said. The prickly bushes weren't the best for cushioning a fall, but they were definitely better than rocks. I jumped up to see if the monster had forgotten about us, my heart still racing from the chase. I sighed in relief when it was nowhere to be seen. Exhausted from the running, I bent over for a much-needed break.

"Um…" The scared girl broke the silence.

I had momentarily forgotten about the two because I was so relieved to be alive. They were both staring at me as I turned to look at them. The angry girl had a scowl, of course. The way she had responded to me I wouldn't have expected anything less. I looked away from her, to the other girl. _Why does she look the same as angry girl?_ Oh—they were identical twins. She appeared to be nicer than her sister, at least.

I could only imagine how I looked. I was covered in dried sewage from escaping the Town of Beginnings, vomit from when I threw up in the back alley, and my hair was a tangled mess from the battles I had fought. Not to mention my skirt was now ripped up to my underwear. I turned bright red as I attempted to hold the material together.

"Um...hi." My mind tried to form better sentences to introduce myself, but that was all that came out. _Why am I constantly too flustered to speak?_ I should work on that.

"What the hell was that?" The braided girl exclaimed.

Did she really just say that? How about a thank you for rescuing her? Sure, fleeing wasn't the most conventional way to survive in battle, but we had gotten out alive, hadn't we?

She continued on. "We could've totally taken on that dire wolf. What would've happened if it had caught up to us?"

 _Taken it on. Right._ With her health bar practically in the red, and me frozen in fear by the thing. "Sorry," I squeaked.

"What are you talking about, Kimiko?" It was now the nicer girl's turn to be angry. "If she hadn't had pulled us out of there we would be dire wolf chow. It was too high of level for us, even with three people!"

Well, like two and a quarter, honestly. She hadn't really been doing anything.

"Yes, we could—" Kimiko, AKA braid girl, began bickering with her twin, that yes, we could have won, and we should've stayed and fought.

Unnamed twin interrupted her sister's arguments. "I don't want to hear it! Don't be so hard-headed." She turned to me and smiled. "Hello, my name is Celia, and this is my sister Kimiko."

"He-hello," I said, twisting around on the balls of my feet.

"Thank you for saving us," She said, bowing.

"Um, you're welcome."

Neither of us were sure what to say after that, which created an awkward pause. Kimiko continued to seethe in the back, not interested in contributing in our conversation.

Celia led the discussion. "So, what was your name?"

I probably should have told them that during introductions. I turned bright red. "It's Kat!" _Shoot!_ I was supposed to be Katsuki here.

"So, what are you doing in the forest, Kat?"

"I'm trying to get to Horunka."

Celia got excited. "Oh! Us too! Maybe you can—"

"Stop, Celia!" Kimiko scowled at her sister. "She doesn't need to come with us!"

This caused the girls to start fighting, again. Kimiko's words hurt, although I understood the intent behind them. As nasty as she was being, her main goal was to protect her sister. I was an outsider, and she knew nothing about me. For all she knew, I could be a PK'er trying to dispose of them and get their items. I sighed, and glanced again at Kimiko's health bar.

"Here you go, Celia." I handed her a HP potion the old woman had gifted me. Kimiko would be too stubborn to accept it if I gave it to her directly. "I'll be by the river."

Honestly, I just wanted to be out of earshot. It was always so awkward being in the middle of other people's fights. But, it made me miss my own brother, Mark. He was such a goofball. Sometimes so much so it'd start arguments between us, but most of the time his teasing was sweet. When I felt bad about my height he'd laugh at me for being 'short' because he was well over six feet tall. He knew I wasn't, of course, but it did make me feel a little better when he did it. We had the same light brown hair, although his was perfectly straight, and always side swept. He would laugh at the wavy, messy texture of mine and always ruffle it to make it worse. When Mark went to college, I cried and cried, but he promised to visit often. And he had, for the most part. But it wasn't the same as having my older brother teasing me every day.

I tore myself away from my thoughts when I reached the river. Extra melancholy thoughts were the last thing I needed right now. I crouched down by the river to examine my reflection. There were dried vomit particles sticking out of my hair, and a combination of sewer waste and dirt smeared across my face. My stomach churned looking at the mixture that had accumulated on my body.

Squeamish would be an understatement for me. If it involved bodily fluids, insects, or anything that could be categorized at 'gross,' I was out. Literally, passed out. It had been adrenaline that had kept my attention away from my current status, but now I felt myself getting dizzy.

"Eeep!" I shrieked, jumping in the river. It might not have been the best idea given that I was light headed, but I wanted this grime off, now _. Is drowning possible in SAO?_ I never found out, because the frigid temperature shocked me back to a clear mental state. I began furiously scrubbing every inch of my body, scraping the filth off with my fingernails. Even when the visible grime was gone, I still felt dirty. I watched red scrape marks form on my body as I tried to clean something that was not there.

"Hey!" I paused my scrubbing to see Kimiko staring at me, hands on her hips. "What are you doing?"

I looked at the water and then back to her. "Washing up."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, obviously. I mean, why do you look like you're trying to rip your own skin off?"

"Being thorough, I guess." I mean, it was true.

"Well, Celia and I are making camp for a few hours; there's no way we can reach Horunka by dawn. You can stay with us if you want."

"I heard you, Kimiko! You were supposed to invite her to join us nicely!" Celia yelled from a couple hundred feet away.

Kimiko scowled at her sister, although I doubted she could see it in the darkness. "Would you...like to join us tonight?"

"Okay." I responded, hopping out of the river. I saw the look on Kimiko's face and quickly added a thank you.

I followed her back to camp, dripping water the whole way.

* * *

I sat sopping wet in front of our bonfire, hovering as close as possible in a pitiful attempt to warm myself. Nighttime was freezing in this forest—not exactly the most opportune time to dry myself. I inched closer to the flames, as if that small space would somehow make the process faster. It didn't.

I casted my eyes downward, all hopes of being warm lost. The large rip in my dress greeted me. Right now, only Celia and Kimiko were around. What happened when we got into town and there were other people around? _Boys?!_ My face turned bright red at the thought.

"I can fix that for you, if you want!" Celia's voice sang out.

I looked at my dress. _How does she plan on mending this? By using blades of grass as thread?_ Well, it wasn't like I had much to lose. I unequipped my dress and passed it to her.

Celia examined it closely. "This will be easy peasy!"

She pulled out a sewing kit. _Interesting choice for a first purchase in SAO._ With her presumably low-level tailor skill, I'd look like a patchwork doll. But I supposed in this world, style didn't matter much. And really, I was grateful to get my dress fixed.

After about two minutes she passed my dress back. "How...did you do such a good job, Celia?" I said, shocked. "I mean! Not that I thought you wouldn't do a good job, but your Tailoring skill should be low."

"Don't you know?" said Kimiko, a hint of irritation in her voice.

"Um…" The look on my face gave it away.

"When Kayaba reverted us to our actual 'selves,' it wasn't just looks. He also imported whatever we're good at in real life into our skill bar. Celia likes to sew in her free time, so her Tailor skill is already at about 800, out of a possible score of 1000," She looked at me, "Judging by the way you dodged that beast, I'd say your Evasion or Agility skill is already pretty high."

"Oh." Now it made sense why climbing the trees had been easy.

I wanted to ask Kimiko what she had high levels in, but I thought better of it. Instead, I pulled up my bars to check my own stats. Kimiko was right; my Agility level was at 751. Evasion was about tied, with 764. Everything else was pathetically low, ranging from five to twenty-eight.

I was almost finished looking when I found 'Other Skills,' or rather, what was listed under it. Dance - 993. _The best Ballerina in all of Tokyo and I'm not maxed out?_

"Find anything interesting?" Kimiko asked, although I didn't think she cared much.

"Yeah," I responded, irked about my Dance skill. "Should I take first watch tonight?"

"No." Kimiko shot me a glare. It was crystal clear she didn't trust me around her sister.

"Alright then."

"Night Kat!" Celia's sing-song voice rang out.

* * *

"Goodnight, Celia." Even though I didn't know them, somehow, I felt a little less lonely.

"You don't talk much, do you?" Kimiko asked, with that irritation in her voice she always directed at me.

"No," I replied.

"Well, why?"

"I don't know," I lied. What was I supposed to say? _I'm always too shy or embarrassed to speak, so I don't._ When I did talk, my sentences came out all wrong. Better to stick with 'I don't know.'

It hadn't even been a day, and I already knew Kimiko was clearly a hot-headed person. She opened her mouth to challenge me, but Celia interjected. "It's okay Kat! There are a lot of people who are introverts...like Gandhi and Einstein!" It was so like her to make me feel better for being flawed. She and Kimiko were true yin and yang.

We had left our camp when dawn broke. No need to wait and see if more of those mutated beasts were around. Now, we trudged through the pathless forest, praying the compass was leading us in the right direction.

"All I'm saying is—" Kimiko started, when another Little Nepenthes jumped out in front of us.

Celia shrieked, as she did at every monster. To be fair, Little Nepenthes were disgusting. The monster appeared to be some sort of bell shaped plant, and the fluid that dribbled out of its mouth emitted a horrible odor. With no eyes and a large human smile, their face was enough to give anyone the heebie jeebies.

"Hya!" I sprang towards the monster, drawing its attention. The beast's vine lashed out to grab me, but I was too quick. Its gaze followed me as I jumped up and to the right. It let out an irritated screech as it twisted its vine in preparation to grab me.

With the beast fully distracted, Kimiko seized the moment to attack. "Ai!" she swung her axe and chopped the vine off. The monster almost began to turn its body to look at Kimiko, but I quickly sidestepped and grazed my sword along its fleshy body.

"Eiiiyoughhh!" It drew back all of its vines, in preparation to either attack or grab me. I was ready for either. Before it could choose, Kimiko axed the creature's middle. It was a strong blow, and it drained the rest of the monster's HP. Its glittered shards exploded around us like fireworks.

"That was probably our best time yet." She said, wiping her axe on leaves in an attempt to get the Little Nepenthes fluid off. Kimiko and I had naturally fallen in this rhythm of fighting; I'd divert the monster while she attacked it. And when she attacked, she went all out.

"Yeah." I replied, tapping to see the items I had received. Little Nepenthes Fruit and Vine 2x appeared in my menu. Useless, but I supposed I could sell them for some Cor. What had proved most useful this journey was the amount of fighting Kimiko and I had done. I was approaching level four, and we weren't even two days into SAO.

"You're insanely quick for your level. And when you fight, you generate a ridiculous amount of threat. Your Post Motion is practically nonexistent. You'd make a good evasion tank in a guild."

Was that something nice coming out of Kimiko's mouth? And directed towards me? I was almost too shocked to respond. "Um, thanks."

She rolled her eyes. "Let's keep walking."

We continued for another half an hour, not saying much. There were a few more beasts in our path, but other than that it was an easy journey.

"There!" Celia said.

There was light peeking through the trees, signaling the edge of the forest. A wave of sadness washed over me—Our trek to Horunka was almost over. I didn't want to part with my new companions. I mean, Kimiko could be a bit offensive sometimes, but she was growing on me.

"Alright!" Kimiko said, pumping her fist.

We quickly made our way out of the forest towards Horunka. It was so tiny compared to the Town of Beginnings. It appeared as though there were just a few shops, an inn, and maybe a market. I had lived in Tokyo since I was a child, so the lack of hustle and bustle was unsettling. Remembering where I was, I accepted it. Beggars couldn't be choosers in SAO.

As we approached the edge of town, I wanted to tell them to not leave me, we made a good team and we should stick together. I wanted to tell Kimiko that she was a fantastic axe wielder and I wanted to continue tanking for her, because I didn't even know I was good at it until she told me. I tried everything I could to get the words out of my mouth, but they just wouldn't come.

"We'll see you around, Kat." Kimiko didn't even look me in the eye as she said goodbye.

"Thank you for helping us!" Celia bubbled.

"C'mon, Celia."

"Bye Kat!" Celia sadly called out as her sister dragged her towards the market.

"Bye…" I whispered, tears welling in my eyes. Even though I'd known the twins for less than a day, somehow, they'd given me a sense of belonging. I watched them walk away, their long coral hair swinging behind them.

 _What now?_ I only had the plan to get to Horunka. From here on, I had no idea what to do. _Should I see what happens? Or should I stop and make plans? I don't know._ A teardrop fell from my eye. I wiped it away, and quickly increased my blinking so more wouldn't come. Maybe I'd just take a nap, and worry about what I should do later. I shuffled towards the only inn in Horunka. _Stupid, deserted place. Who likes being in a town without people, anyways?_ I wallowed in self-pity, slamming the inn door open. The NPC looked at me and raised his eyebrow.

"Sorry." Although I wasn't very sorry at all, more embarrassed.

He shrugged. "How can I help you today, Miss?"

"Uh, one hotel room please."

"Please open your transaction window."

"Oh!" I pulled my user interface up and tapped my Cor balance. An Inn Room purchase option appeared, and I selected it.

"Thank you for your business. You will be staying in room number five."

I nodded my head in acknowledgement shuffled towards my room. Walking inside, the room was so...plain. Just a bed, a nightstand, and a potted plant. It didn't give any "homey" vibe at all. I burst into tears and threw myself on the bed. I beat the pillows with my fists as I sobbed. Why did I think playing SAO was a good idea? It figured the first video game I played was a literal death game. If I ever made it out of here, I swore I'd stick to ballet and nothing else.

Exhausted from crying, I fell asleep.

* * *

I groggily reached for my phone. The dream I had last night was unlike any other. _A literal death game!_ Maybe I should take up writing—it would make for a fantastic book. At the very least I should give the idea to an author. My grasps for my phone yielded no results. Did I leave it downstairs last night? Ugh, I really hoped it wasn't dead. I squinted my eyes to get a better look at the bedside table, and my stomach dropped. All that was sitting there was the ugly potted plant. This nightmare was real.

"No." I said softly, letting my face fall into my pillow.

I left it there as long as possible before the lack of oxygen forced me to roll over. How long had it been since I fell asleep? I pulled up my UI—about four hours. Every part of me wanted to stay curled in a ball inside this inn, safe from everything. There would be other heroic players who would put their lives on the line to save the rest of us. But, lying in this inn was not the right thing to do. The real question at hand was, what was? I groaned as I sat up in bed.

I was ashamed as I caught sight of myself in the mirror. My face had turned red and blotchy, and my eyes were swollen from crying so much. The only thing I could think of was Mother.

 _She looked at me as I was crying over my blistered feet. I was ten, and had just gotten my first pair of pointe shoes._

" _Well Katya," She said coldly. "What have you accomplished with this crying?"_

" _It h-hurts!" I sobbed back._

" _Yesterday you were telling me you were going to be the best ballerina in all of Tokyo. Did you give up?"_

 _I never cried again over my constantly blistered, bleeding feet._

I stood up and walked toward the mirror. "You—" I pointed at myself— "need to stop being a crybaby."

The one thing I did know was that I wanted out of Horunka. But, The Town of Beginnings was chaos. My fingers drummed along the nightstand. I guess I could go to Tolbana. It was the second largest town on the first floor. There might not be a lot of people there for a while, but I could wait.

I quickly gathered my belongings and made my way out. And by belongings, I meant my boots and sword. Most items were stored in inventory slots, and I didn't own much.

I tore through the Inn and unapologetically slammed the door shut behind me. If I had to spend another minute in Horunka I would go insane. In the short amount of time I had been here, I had come to loathe this town. I wanted to lie to myself that it was just the amount of people, but that wasn't the case. The truth was that this town made me feel lonely.

NPC's littered my path, making me unable to run full speed. Weaving around them as fast as possible, I saw the forest's edge. _Finally._

"Hey!" Kimiko's voice called out from behind me.

I stopped abruptly. Most people would've tripped over their feet, but I had enough dexterity to end high speeds gracefully. I turned around to face her, my eyes cast down.

"Do you want to party up with us?"

They were the best words I had heard all day.


	4. Chapter 4

**Floor 1**

* * *

I couldn't believe that had been a month ago—It felt more like a year in this death game. I had a feeling other players felt the same, as some were only now beginning to explore what was beyond the Town of Beginnings. More people continued to trickle into Tolbana, my unofficial home.

Kimiko was cold to me for the first week, until I took a direct hit for Celia that drained my HP bar. We had been grinding outside the forests of Tolbana, and crossed paths with three dire wolves at once. It was absolute chaos. Kimiko and I had fought plenty of battles together, but it was only one creature at a time. I was trying to figure out how to pull multiple targets, which I had never done before. Kimiko's blows were sloppy, attacking the monsters with no strategy.

After five minutes or so we had eliminated one, but the other two dire wolves' HP bars had barely been touched. With only two remaining, I thought I'd be able to help Kimiko more with attacking. But I lost aggro on one beast, and it found a new target—Celia. I had been horrified when I realized my mistake. I sprinted towards the dire wolf about to attack Celia, and jumped in front of it. The blow took almost a third of my HP bar. It left me rattled, but Celia's level was much too low to have taken that attack.

A switch flipped in Kimiko after that day. She no longer talked to me with that irritated tone in her voice, and actually listened to my —albeit little— input. I would giggle and listen when she proclaimed that one day, she would be the best axe wielder in Aincrad. I realized Kimiko had a rough exterior, and her trust had to be earned.

Which led us to today.

"Oomph!" I exclaimed, falling to the dirt once more.

"Oh c'mon. You know fighting doesn't hurt here," Kimiko said, rolling her eyes.

She was right, of course. But after getting thrown to the ground so many times I was starting to get a bit dramatic.

"Let's go again!" She said.

I had figured out what skill Kimiko had a high-level in. Apparently, she was in some form of martial arts in real life. In one of our battles, she had finished the beast off with a sidekick-punch combo. I must have looked confused, because Celia volunteered she had a black belt. She continued to gush about how great Kimiko was at martial arts before her sister quieted her. In SAO, there was an unspoken rule to not offer information on your actual "self."

Grumbling, I got back on my feet.

"You know, Kat, you could need these skills in battle one day. I don't know why you're complaining."

With my evasion stat, I could have dodged her blows. Kimiko was quite aware of that, so she made the rules blocking or attacking only.

"Alright, attack me now!" She said, readying herself.

As much as I hated the Martial Arts skill, I was glad she was having a good time. Many players had fallen into a deep depression—some had even committed suicide. In SAO, it was easy to focus on the many negative aspects here. It could be mentally exhausting trying to find good in this world. So, if Kimiko was happy, that was good enough for me.

I had put space between us. Maybe if I got some speed before my attack I'd have a fighting chance. Sighing, I charged towards her.

"Eya!" I jumped out of my sprint into a very messy side kick.

With a simple block from Kimiko, I landed on the ground once more.

"I saw that coming from a mile away, Kat. You have to think about what I'm going to do too."

"It's okay Kat! I believe in you!" Celia cheered.

She was sitting against a tree, sewing armor out of boar leather. It wasn't safe for her to be with us in the forest, but Kimiko would not leave her alone in Tolbana. Which wasn't logical, because all towns were safe zones. But that was not a subject I would discuss with Kimiko.

"Thanks, Celia." I said, not moving from the ground.

"In one more fight your Martial Arts skill should be at 75. Let's keep going!" Kimiko said.

I tried to form a sentence that would best get her to give me a break. "Well, you see—"

Shouts broke off in the distance. Another group of players had clearly gotten themselves into trouble. The idea of leaving them alone had guilt gnawing at my stomach.

"Kimiko," I said as I stood up. "Maybe we should go help them."

"It's not our problem, Kat."

I bit my lower lip—She wasn't wrong. Still, at our level we could at least check it out. But, if Kimiko didn't want to do something, there was no one who could make her do it. Except for—

"You've got to be kidding me Kimiko," Celia lectured her sister. "Kat rescued us in the very beginning, and now you don't want to pay it forward? Don't be so selfish!"

—Celia.

Kimiko tried to suppress her displeasure. She wasn't very good at it. "Well, are we going or not?"

She took off with Celia and I following her. We weaved as fast as possible around the trees that blocked our path. Kimiko's long, coral braid whipped back and forth as I trailed her.

"Kimiko, maybe we should assess the situation when we get there," I said. "Like, just not run right in."

"How the hell," She panted. "Do you run and talk?"

I had forgotten how much lower her stamina was in comparison to mine. For me, this was a light jog. But, after getting knocked to the ground so many times this morning it was hard to feel bad for her.

The shouts grew closer. About fifty feet away I saw a group of men fighting...three dire wolves? It was hard to tell with the shrubbery blocking my view.

"Okay, Kimiko, let's stop here and see—" I started, but Kimiko broke through the clearing and right into the battle.

"Stay in the back, Celia!" She yelled, her axe extended.

 _This is not the plan!_ By doing this, she was assuring us the lower hand. We didn't know the ratio of beasts to humans. By not assessing our situation, we might die. Anger ran through my body—I could have killed her on the spot, assuming the dire wolves didn't get to her first. Instead, I followed her into battle.

I took a quick tally as I broke through the clearing. There were four players and five monsters, all dire wolves. The fifth dire wolf had the same mutation as the one I had encountered my first night in SAO. After my HP bar incident, Kimiko and I had practiced fighting more than one monster at a time. But I had never tried to pull five of them while tanking.

"What are you waiting for, Kat?" Kimiko yelled, striking the foot of one of the dire wolves.

I regained my composure and took another look at the battlefield. Two of the dire wolves had targeted one man, and his HP bar had drained to less than halfway. I sprinted towards the swordsman before the beasts could do any more damage. I jumped in front of him and used Taunt, drawing both of the dire wolves' attention towards me.

"Who're you?" He exclaimed.

I internally rolled my eyes. This man was about to die, and the first thing he did was ask me who I was. I ignored his question and continued to focus on the dire wolves. _Two down, three to go._ Things were going in our favor so far, and with these added men I imagined we would be fine.

I made my way towards the dire wolf Kimiko was fighting, drawing the other two beasts with me. As the beast went to strike Kimiko, I jumped over it and parried the attack. With my lack of post motion, I was able to respond with a strike.

"Great job, Kat!" Kimiko said.

While her praise was helpful, I couldn't help but be nervous for the next monster. According to Kimiko, when I tanked I "generate aggro." What if I didn't make enough of it to keep them distracted, and they started attacking other players?

I tried to push the thought out of my mind as I drew my mob closer to the last normal dire wolf. Charging the beast, I slid under it and drew my sword along its stomach. The four dire wolves were now focused on me.

"Alright, Helmet Head," Kimiko commanded. "We're going to get rid of these four dire wolves. All others, stay on the mutated one!"

Helmet Head was the boy I had saved from the two dire wolves. Kimiko had picked a fitting nickname, as his head armor was tightly molded around his face. I couldn't help but notice how bold she was to barge in and command the group. But honestly, it appeared they needed the direction.

Kimiko and Helmet Head began attacking one wolf at a time, while I kept the horde entertained. With their strategy, the targeted beasts' HP bar drained at a quick rate. Based on the strength of his attacks, Helmet Head was not a low level. I also presumed the rest of his group were a similar level. Maybe I'd ask them how they had gotten themselves into this mess, after Kimiko had finished chewing them out.

The two finished off the first dire wolf, and I watched the blue fragments explode in the air. A foolish mistake on my part—I had neglected to notice an incoming attack. A dire wolf's claws dug into my arm, leaving three large gashes. The cuts weren't a metallic blue, like when an enemy died in game. The gashes looked real, and I had digital blood running down my forearm. There was no physical pain from the injury, but I still gasped in fear.

"Get it together, Kat!" Kimiko's voice pulled me out of my trance.

I was shocked, and I had stopped attacking and lost all aggro. The wolves were now facing Kimiko and Helmet Head, attempting to stop the source of the attacks. I leaped in front of the mob, and used Provoke, the most powerful Taunt I had. They lost interest in my comrades, and snarled as they faced me. With the dire wolves' backs facing Kimiko and Helmet Head, the two took the opportunity to slay another.

One by one they picked off the monsters, while I would keep the rest distracted. This was the most difficult battle Kimiko and I had fought together, and it felt endless. I could have sworn it took hours, but the fight was at most twenty minutes.

We had almost finished our pack, but the three remaining men had not eliminated the mutated dire wolf. It moved at a much faster pace than the others, so landing a strike was much more difficult. All three men's HP bars had fallen dangerously close to the orange level.

There was one remaining dire wolf, and Kimiko and Helmet Head were more than equipped to handle it.

"Kimiko, I'm switching!" I yelled.

Fearing for the group's safety, I rushed towards them as fast as possible.

I soared over the group and drove my sword into the dire wolf's back. The creature let out a roar as it forgot about the three swordsmen in front of it. It gave me the same menacing look as the first time I met it. Only this time, I wasn't going to run.

The fight with this dire wolf felt more like a dance. It was a synchronized battle of attacks and dodges, and the loser was the first to take a hit. The creature was also very agile—I could not land a counterblow for its every attempted move.

Finally, a man with a bandana struck the beast from behind, sending it into a blue pixelated cloud. He exhaled. "Man, you really saved our asses."

As expected, Kimiko spoke first. "That's an understatement. What were you all thinking?!"

Accustomed to her short temper, I tuned her out. I think she mentioned being stupid, reckless, going to get themselves killed. After about three minutes, bandana guy finally got a word in edgewise. "Alright we get it! Jesus."

"Anything else?" Kimiko hissed.

Bandana guy scowled. "Thank you."

"Okay. Well, we're done here. Let's get going." She motioned to me.

"Wait," He said. "You both are clearly high level. Are you going to the meeting today?"

"I don't care about meetings," Kimiko scoffed. She grabbed my hand and pulled me towards Celia.

She might not have, but I did. All my time in SAO had been spent with Kimiko and Celia, which was the best decision I'd made. But, I also wanted to know what the other players had been doing.

"What's the meeting for?" Celia chirped.

The boy with the bandana eyes enlarged. He zoomed over to Celia and grabbed her hand. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss! My name is Klein, I'm the _leader_ of these men, unmarried of course—"

Kimiko punched him in the stomach.

"That was mean, Kimiko!" Celia scolded her sister. But, I didn't think she grasped the full reason why Klein wanted to talk to her.

"Anyways, we're leaving now," Kimiko said.

"The meeting?!" I blurted, not wanting to leave without knowing.

She shot me a dirty look. It was clear she didn't want to be with these swordsmen any longer than needed. But I wanted to know what the meeting was about.

"It's a strategy meeting, to defeat the first floor's boss," said Helmet Head.

I lost interest. I appreciated those who would be clearing levels to get us out of here, but that was not for me. From what I'd read in the Beta Tester strategy guides, boss battles needed an extreme amount of skill. I was only capable of fighting floor beasts with my abilities.

"We'll be there," Kimiko said.

My mouth fell open. _Why did I have to prod?_ There was no way I was going to fight the boss. How would I tell Kimiko, who wanted to be "the best axe wielder in Aincrad."

"Fantastic. Well, my name is Klein and I'm the leader of these clowns. This is Dynamm, Issin, and Harry One."

The one Kimiko had deemed Helmet Head was Harry One, but I much preferred his nickname.

Klein continued. "What were your names?"

"My name is Kimiko. This is my sister Celia," she gestured towards me. "And my friend, Kat."

Having an avatar name wasn't going well for me. Kat, Katsuki, Katya, I guessed they were all close enough.

Klein's eyes widened looking at Kimiko. "Mirrored beauty! How did I not notice bef—"

Kimiko responded with a round kick. I had to admit, I was a little jealous of the attention the twins were receiving. In Japan, I wasn't the epitome of beauty. Being petite was preferred in the country, and at 5'10", I was quite the opposite. The desired face shape is small and oval, as it made one look very feminine. I had hard features, including my nose and jawline. The only two "beautiful" qualities I had were how pale I was and the size of my eyes. Even then, I was quite the oddball in Japan, and boys never paid me any mind.

Dynamm cleared his throat. "Shall we head back to town? I imagine the rest of the guild will be returning."

"Great idea, Dynamm," Klein said. "Would you ladies like to come with us?"

"We'll be fine by ourselves, thanks," Kimiko barked.

"Alright then. The meeting is at 16:00."

Kimiko grabbed Celia and I and stormed off.

"Bye everyone!" Celia called out.

"Stop it, Celia. We don't need to associate ourselves with them," Kimiko ordered.

Walking to the fountain in Tolbana, I meant to tell Kimiko everything. How I did not want to fight in boss battles, but I would absolutely support her if she did. I was already prepared for her response. Why would I level up so high to not fight? I didn't think I'd be able to offer her the truth. _I'm scared. I never pictured dying this young, in such a horrible way._

I also had a horrible sense of guilt. I was so selfish for only thinking about myself. At level eleven, I was stronger than most players in this game. I had a duty to help clear the levels and get everyone out of here. But I didn't want to fulfill that obligation.

I finally found the courage to speak. "Kimiko I—"

She cut me off. "Alright, we made it! Let's sit in the back so we can watch everyone."

I sighed. _What's an extra hour of waiting to tell her?_

We made our way up the large concrete stairs and chose the very back seats. For the first time since I had met her, Kimiko had nothing to say. _Is she nervous?_ I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye. She sat stock still, eyes fixed on the fountain.

The only one of us that seemed to have it together was Celia. She was humming to herself, finishing the armor she had been sewing earlier. It was hard not to be jealous of how carefree she looked.

More people began to file in. Klein and his crew arrived, choosing to sit in the front. I couldn't help but note they grew in number. Had they been recruiting, or had we only run into part of the group? Also, what was the size of an average group? Everyone at the meeting had five or more players.

A lone player strolled in and sat a few seats in front of us. I could tell he wanted to draw as little attention to himself as possible, as I often did the same thing. He should have chosen to forgo a cloak with the hood up during daytime.

One player caught my eye more than others. He was a large, African American man. It was uncommon to not be of Japanese descent in the country. I rarely ran into other races, unless they were tourists. If I had to guess, we were the only two in SAO who weren't Japanese.

My thoughts were broken by a man with blue hair.

"All right, people! It's five minutes past already, so let's get started! Gather 'round, folks—you there, three steps closer!"

He did command a presence. The way he spoke gave direction, but was not too controlling. Clad in his knight gear, one could not also help but notice he was extremely handsome. Listening to his speech, I learned his name was Diavel. He and his party had discovered the first-floor labyrinth. Meaning, we were about to reach the first-floor boss chamber.

"...We have to beat the boss, reach the second floor, and show everyone back in the Town of Beginnings that someday we can beat this game of death. That's the duty of all the top-level players here! Isn't that right?"

I cringed as the crowd cheered—it was. I bit my lip in guilt.

Suddenly, a man with spiky hair jumped into Diavel's circle. He introduced himself as Kibaou, and began a speech of his own.

"There gotta be five or ten folks in this midst that owe an apology first," He demanded.

As it turned out, Kibaou blamed the beta testers for the two thousand people that had already died. He argued that when the game had started, they hogged all resources to themselves. Sighing, I tried to tune him out. I didn't want to get in a war of fault. While I understood his frustrations, the only person to blame for this was Kayaba.

"Have you noticed we're the only girls here?" I muttered to Kimiko.

"Yeah, so?"

"I don't know, it's just... weird," I sighed.

"If you think about it logically, there is a much larger ratio of guys in this game. So, no matter what, there will always be more guys. Now quiet, I want to listen to this guy's tantrum."

She was right, of course. No matter what, there would always be a higher ratio of male players. But still, I wished there was at least one more female player here.

A deep voice interrupted Kibaou. The African American player I was watching earlier stood up.

"My name is Agil. If I have this right, Kibaou, you're claiming many newbies died because the former beta testers didn't help them, and therefore they ought to apologize and pay reparations. Is that correct?"

"His axe. Look at his axe! Do you think he even knows how to use it?" scoffed Kimiko.

Kimiko's jealousy was clear. Yesterday, she was boasting that she would be the best axe wielder in all of Aincrad. I could only imagine how upset she was to see someone five times her size with a larger axe.

"Mhm." I tried tuning her out to listen to Agil, but she kept ranting about it.

"Dismissed!" Diavel declared.

 _How had an hour gone by so fast?_ Shouts of approval and excitement rang out. Everyone was optimistic for the first battle. It hit me with an awkward realization that I was the only one who didn't cheer.

"Well, that was interesting," Kimiko said.

"Guys. Hey, guys!" A familiar voice rang out from across the plaza.

"Oh god," Kimiko groaned.

Klein stood waving his hands back and forth, as if it would get our attention faster.

"Let's go see what that bonehead wants." She stood and began to walk down the steps.

My heart raced with anxiety as I trailed her. I didn't have the opportunity to tell Kimiko I didn't want to fight, and now she was going to talk to them and say we were both going to the boss battle. This would be bad.

"Oh!" Celia exclaimed. She had dropped the round pin cushion she used for sewing, and it was spiraling away from us.

"I'll get it." I said, eager to do anything that would delay the conversation that was approaching. I steered left into the stand, following the moving object. It rolled surprisingly fast for being such a small pincushion.

It landed right at the feet of the hooded warrior.

"Oh, um, can I grab that…" I attempted to form an acceptable sentence.

"Kat?"

Asuna Yuuki peered at me from under the hood.


	5. Chapter 5

**Floor One**

I still remember the day I met Asuna Yuuki. I was seven years old, and the company my father works for, RECT, was having its annual Christmas party. As per usual, I was standing behind my mother in an attempt to hide from everyone. It wasn't working well- at that age I had already surpassed five feet. The company had just hired a new Chief Executive Officer, and my Father wanted to introduce us to his family. As it turned out, the CEO had a daughter around my age. My mother practically had to force me to say hello- I had never been good with people. Asuna didn't say hello back. She just looked at me and asked, "Do you wanna be friends?"

We were inseparable. There wasn't one weekend we didn't have a sleepover, sans the time I had stomach flu. Even then, Asuna called and we talked for hours. We would pretend we were adults, trying to act mature while applying heavy make up. Asuna and I thought we were professionals, but it actually looked like poor application of clown face paint. She was jealous I was a year older. But really, I wished I was her age so I wouldn't have to go to middle school alone. She was my only friend, my best friend.

I resent Asuna Yuuki more than anyone in this world. When I was eleven, RECT hired a new Chief Operating Officer. He had a daughter, Aiko, who was Asuna's age. She quickly latched onto Asuna and isolated me. Aiko loved to mock all of my insecurities; my abnormal height, messiness of my hair, and lack of social skills. Asuna never joined in, but she also never stopped her.

In a matter of weeks, Asuna and I were strangers. Seeing her everyday at school was painful. It was even worse lying to my parents as to why we weren't together all the time. Looking back, I'm sure they saw right through it. They sent me to a performing arts middle school rather than the all girls private school. Now, the only time I have to see her is at Father's company parties. I still haven't forgiven her. I don't know if I ever will.

I stood there, unable to say anything. Part of me was happy to see someone I knew, even if it wasn't someone I didn't like. The other part wanted to walk away and pretend this moment never happened.

Asuna looked at me, "Kat, I-"

"Jesus Kat, I've been trying to get your attention. You're not seriously going to make me talk to those idiots alone, are you?" Kimiko barged in, picking the forgotten sewing cushion off the floor.

She grabbed my hand, "Let's go."

As she dragged me away, I turned to look at Asuna. She stood unmoving, cloak gently waving in the wind. I could have broken away from Kimiko's grip and told her I needed a moment. But I had nothing to say to Asuna.

Kimiko dragged me towards the group of men we had assisted earlier.

"Lets just see what they want," She sighed.

I didn't respond. Memories with Asuna clouded my mind, making it hard to process anything.

"Hey guys!" Klein greeted us.

"What do you need?" Kimiko grumbled.

"That wasn't very nice, Kimiko," Celia chided, "Hello everybody!"

Celia scolded her sister for being mean on a regular basis. I don't think the message was getting through.

"I just wanted to introduce you to the rest of our group. You've already met Harry, Dynamm, Issin," Klein motioned to them, "But here's the rest of us! Meet Dale, Kunimittz, Bellamy."

The three of us exchanged half hearted pleasantries with the remaining members of the guild.

"And our last member, Takeo," The redhead motioned to a man whose back was facing towards us, "Oi! Takeo, get over here."

"Miss me already, Klein?" He said in jest.

My chest tightened. The resemblance between my brother, Mark, and Takeo was unbelievable. The same green eyes crinkled down when he smiled. Even the way Takeo talks is like Mark. I had the sudden urge to be close to him. Not intimately, of course. I just wanted him to ruffle my hair, tease me when I mess up, and tell me everything will be OK.

"Yeah, yeah. Meet the girls that were saving our asses while you were out shopping."

"A regular damsel in distress, aren't you Klein?"

"Big talk from a guy who skipped fighting to go shopping," Klein teased, "Anyways. This is Kimiko, Celia, and Kat."

"Nice to meet you all. My name is Takeo, I help this dunce run our guild, Fuurinkazan."

"But you can't have a guild until the third floor," Kimiko pointed out.

"Ah, technically we're unofficial right now," The emerald eyed boy smiled, "But only for two more floors."

"I guess," Kimiko shrugged her shoulders, "Did you need us for anything else, Klein?"

"Ah, I was just going to tell Takeo how you two fought!"

He proceeded to retell the days prior events, occasionally trying to lessen the severity of the situation. Kimiko would quickly interrupt with the correct version of events.

"Kat was tanking, but she's not your normal meatshield. She keeps the monster's attention and then dodges and parries. She's like a little fly they can't catch!"

Did Klein just...compare me to a fly? I mean he wasn't wrong, but surely there was a better analogy than that.

Takeo smiled at me, "Sounds like I could learn a few things from you!"

"Oh uhm no, I really just got lucky and…" I stammered.

Ugh. Of all things, why do I have to be bad at talking?

"So we can count on both of you being there tomorrow, right?" Klein asked.

"Obviously," Kimiko replied, rolling her eyes.

My heart began to pound. I hadn't had the chance to tell her I didn't want to go to the boss battle. And she just told all of Fuurinkazan we were going. In that moment, I knew there was no getting out of going.

"Alright well, we need to go. We'll see you guys tomorrow," Kimiko motioned for Celia and I to follow her.

"Goodbye everybody!" Celia sang.

"Goodbye," I echoed, following the twins into town.

"You rescue someone once and all of a sudden they think you're best friends," Kimiko grumbled.

"No good deed goes unpunished!" Celia reminded her twin.

I could see Kimiko try to suppress her frustration. As irritable as she gets, she never takes it out on her sister.

"Can we stop by the Tailoring vendor? I need more thread," Celia said, putting her pin cushion back in the sewing box.

"Fine. Kat, do you want to come or should we meet you at the Inn?" Kimiko asked.

"I'll just...meet you back at the Inn."

The three of us share a double bedroom each night. Originally it was to save money, but now it was just habit.

"Alright, see you then," Kimiko and Celia trailed towards the line of NPC shops.

I normally enjoy having time alone with my thoughts. But right now, they were a blur of the impending boss battle and Asuna. How did she end up here? To my knowledge, she was never interested in video games. But neither was I, before SAO. And why was she at that meeting by herself? Surely she has read the beta tester manuals, and knows how difficult boss battles are.

I was torn from my thoughts as someone knocked me to the ground.

"Ow…" I mumbled, looking up to see who had ran into me.

A swordsman with amber eyes glared at me.

"You should watch where you're going," He sneered.

 _Me?!_ Watch where I'm going? He had been the one going in the wrong direction.

"Sorry."

That wasn't how I wanted to respond, but I'm not one for confrontation. He stormed off, not bothering to help me up. I picked myself up and began to wipe the dust off of my dress.

"Eh?" I paused cleaning myself.

Why had it hurt when I had fallen? It was a small amount, but I still felt the pain. I suppose I'll just ask Kimiko later.

* * *

I watched Celia sleeping soundly on the bed adjacent from me. Normally, I go to bed early with her, but tomorrow's events were keeping me awake. Kimiko was sitting in the desk chair, trying to teach herself to juggle with rubber balls from the market.

"I...tripped today and could feel pain. From like, the actual fall. Am I going crazy?" I asked, twisting the truth on the reason for my fall.

"You know you can still feel small amounts of pain in this game, right? Like paper cuts, headaches, and knocking body parts into objects will hurt. It's just when the pain sensor reaches a high level is when it turns off," She said, eyes focused on the balls.

"Oh," I replied, picking at my cuticles.

She failed to catch them, and they sprawled over the floor.

"God dammit," She muttered.

"Are you nervous for tomorrow?" I asked, perhaps a little too quickly.

I wasn't sure if she would give me an honest answer. Kimiko wasn't the type to show fear.

"Well...a little," She admitted, "I have to get Celia out of here. And if I die tomorrow, how can it be guaranteed that someone else will do it?"

The guilty feeling I had returned. When I think about fighting to escape SAO, it's to get myself out. I don't even think of the thousands of other players. Was I a horrible person for being this selfish?

Kimiko continued, "Plus I'm not sure where she's going to stand...maybe in the back somewhere?"

"What?" I sputtered.

Kimiko was going to take Celia in the labyrinth with her? The idea was absolutely ludicrous.

She scowled at me, "You don't think I'm leaving her by herself, do you?"

This was a conversation I had been avoiding for quite sometime. But Celia could not be taken into a boss battle.

"It's just...towns are safe zones, Kimiko. If she stays in the radius of Tolbana, she'll be OK no matter what. If she comes with us to the boss and something happens…" I avoided eye contact with her.

There was a deafening silence between us. After what felt like an hour, she responded.

"You're right."

"Hm?"

"You want me to say it twice?" Kimiko scowled. She took on a softer tone, "My first thought after Kayaba's presentation was ' _How do I get Celia out of here?_ ' I love my older sister more than anything in this world."

"...Celia is the older twin?"

I immediately felt like a moron. Kimiko told me something touching and my response was shock that Celia was older.

"What? Yes. And…" Kimiko trailed off.

"And what?"

She hesitated, "Well, it's just that my parents have always preferred her more. Her interests, personality...they always want me to be more like her. Even look more like her. I know that sounds ridiculous because we're identical, but-" She picked up her long braid.

Sure, their personalities were different. But Kimiko's personality wasn't a bad different. The two were sweet and sour, yin and yang; they complement each other.

"So don't," I stated, a rare confidence in my voice.

"Don't what?"

"You don't have to listen to them here. This is a video game. If you don't want long hair, get rid of it," I shrugged.

I stood and walked over to Celia's sewing box.

"Do you think she'll mind if I borrow these?" I asked Kimiko, grabbing the scissors.

"Uhm...probably not."

"OK, turn around."

"Er...This is a nice gesture, but are you sure you know what you're doing?" Kimiko inquired.

Two years ago, I had gone to summer camp at a prestigious arts school in New York. While I was there, I stayed with my Aunt and Uncle who are both investment bankers in New York City. Their daughter, my cousin, could be considered the "disappointment" of the family. Instead of going into Finance or Engineering like the rest of our family, she had chosen to go to beauty school. So, my nights were spent helping her cut and style mannequins.

"Mhm."

"Okay…"

I hadn't cut hair in two years, so I was slightly nervous. But, it wasn't that difficult when I had been doing it, and my cousin told me I had "natural talent." Hopefully she wasn't lying.

I cut Kimiko's braid, and it fell to the floor with a soft thud. Ruffling her hair, I checked to see how even it was. It was almost perfect; it just needed a bit of trimming. I snipped the ends until it was straight.

Looking at her, there was still something missing. Kimiko's personality was more bold than Celia's, and I wanted to reflect that.

"How does it look?" She squeaked.

"Fine, just give me one more second."

I shuffled through Celia's sewing box and found her collection of thread. Perfect. I grabbed the brightest colors, and made three wraps in Kimiko's coral hair. Every single one was different colors and patterns.

"There!" I smiled.

"It looks good?" Kimiko worried.

"I think so," I replied, silently praying she would like it.

Her eyes widened as she looked in the mirror.

"This looks great! How did you learn to-" She stopped, remembering the taboo of asking for personal information, "I mean...Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Well, we should go to bed, with the boss battle tomorrow…" She walked towards the bed she shared with Celia.

"Yeah."

"Night, Kat."

"Night, Kimiko." I said, flipping the switch on the light.

* * *

The forty-four of us stood outside the doors leading to the boss. All were silent, an unspoken feeling of dread consuming us. Finally, Diavel spoke.

"Okay everyone- first, thanks! We've got all forty-four members from all eight parties present!"

Kimiko and I had walked to the labyrinth with Fuurinkazan, where we had belatedly learned to get in a group of six. Fortunately, they had an incomplete party for us to join. But Diavel's math didn't work...six times eight was forty-eight. Who was in the incomplete party? I scanned the groups. Asuna and some player in black stood together. Her, in the rejects group? This must be the first time she has been excluded from anything.

"Now I'm just going to do a bit of rearranging, to ensure the best fight possible!" Diavel began walking up to groups and pulling a member or two out.

Why was he rearranging our parties? What was the point in picking parties if we couldn't stay in them?

Finally, he reached the half of Fuurinkazan I was placed in.

"Ah, you there," He motioned to Issin, "You fight with a pole arm, so please make your way to Group E."

Issin didn't seem keen on listening to him.

"Just go, Issin," Klein said, nodding his head.

"And the rest of you are DPS, yes?" Diavel confirmed.

"Well actually, she's a tank," Klein motioned towards me.

Diavel paused, "You're sure?"

My face turned a shade of bright red. To be honest, even I wasn't sure sometimes.

"Is that funny to you?" Kimiko snapped.

"No, no, of course not. My apologies. Miss…" He trailed off, waiting for me to say my name.

"Kat," I said, looking at my toes.

"Miss Kat. If you could kindly make your way over to Group B."

"But…"

I didn't know anyone in Group B.

"Go, Kat." Kimiko ordered.

I wanted to scream at her that I didn't even want to be here. The only reason why I had came is because she told Fuurinkazan we were going, and I didn't want to make her look bad. Instead, I made my way to Group B. I took slow steps, delaying my arrival for as long as possible. All of the men in the group were massive, ready to take damage for the rest of the team. And I was there to...distract it? "Like a fly." I frowned as I thought of the previous day's quote.

I stood awkwardly in front of Group B.

"Hello," The man from yesterday's meeting, Agil, greeted me.

"H-hello," I replied.

"You'll be joining us today?"

I nodded my head furiously.

"Pleased to have you on our team. My name is Agil. Yours?"

"Kat," I mumbled.

"Nice to make your acquaintance."

I appreciated that he wasn't giving me the same skeptical looks as the rest of Group B. Although I couldn't blame them, this was a tanking group. They were all large men dressed in heavy armor, and I was a 115 pound girl in a linen dress.

"Let's go!" Diavel's voice echoed off the chambers of the labyrinth.

My heart began to race in fear. Why did I do this? It doesn't matter that I'm level eleven; I don't belong here. I still had the chance to turn around. But, as hard as I tried, I couldn't make myself leave. I followed Diavel through the double doors, into the unknown.

I inhaled sharply as we entered the chamber. It was enormous; designed with vaulted ceilings and a vast battlefield. We would have quite the journey should we need to flee. The forty-four of us stood anxiously, uncertain of the forthcoming events.

Two adjacent torches lit themselves, letting out a soft hiss. Each neighboring torch began to catch fire in perfect synchronization. The sudden illumination displayed the grotesque details of the labyrinth. The floor and ceiling were made of worn rock, with cracks etched in to show the age. Skulls lined the length of the labyrinth; Kayaba must have wanted to emulate groups that tried before us.

Finally, the end torch was afire, lighting the entire room. At the limit sat a throne with an obscure shadow adorned upon it. Diavel directed his sword towards the mysterious creature, silently commanding us into battle.

The other set of tanks, Group A, ran fearlessly into the unknown.

"Come," Agil directed our group, "We'll be ready when they need to break."

His words registered late with me, and I was left standing as the rest of my group rushed towards the awaiting battle.

"Kat!" Kimiko groaned.

"Oh!" Embarrassed, I scampered after them.

When Team A was sixty feet or so from the throne, the beast vaulted off, letting out the most revolting roar I had ever heard. The noise made me sick to my stomach, and I had to cover my mouth to suppress gagging.

"You OK?" Agil raised his eyebrow at me.

I nodded my head, refusing to move my hand from my mouth. If I did, I wasn't sure if I could contain my nausea.

The boss, Illfang the Kobold Lord, had taken his bone axe and was swinging in frenzied strikes at Group A. The bulky men deflected most of the strikes with their shields, and the blows Illfang landed were largely absorbed into their metal armor. Where did I fit in this equation? I don't have the requirements for heavy hits; all my skill lies in evading.

I continued to watch in silence, praying a strategy would come to mind. No matter how many different attacks I saw, nothing dawned on me.

Team C eliminated the first of Illfang's four HP bars. I silently cheered that we were a quarter of a way done. Unfortunately for me, Team A's health bars were falling into the yellow zone.

"Team A, Team B, switch!" Diavel commanded.

It took every bit of strength I had to compose myself. I swallowed the bile that had made its way up my throat, trying to ignore the acidicness. Cursing my squeamishness, I ran after my teammates. Now or never, I suppose.


	6. Chapter 6

**Floor 1**

The clash of Illfang the Kobold Lord's axe striking Agil's shield echoed throughout the entire room. All of Group B had surrounded Illfang and were taking his blows in stride.

Everyone except me, that is. I stood awkwardly behind the armored men, wondering how to join the fight. I wasn't wearing armor, so jumping in front of Illfang would be a death wish. I glanced upward at the boss, trying to figure out my approach. At almost eight feet tall, Illfang was truly monstrous. With his metal faceplate, the only thing visible of his face were his glowing red eyes.

My eyes trailed downward to his unprotected shoulder. Of course. I shouldn't be staying on the ground to fight, I needed to go upwards. _"Like a fly."_ I'd show Klein what an insect I could be.

I aimed for Illfang's shoulder as I hurdled through the air. Normally, a jump of that height would be unattainable, but exaggerated moves are possible with SAO's fighting system.

"Waah!" I grabbed his long ear to stop myself, almost missing my target.

Fortunately, my small ear tug wasn't enough to distract Illfang from the warriors at his feet. I drew my sword with my left hand, and steadied myself with my right. Heart pounding, I shoved my blade in his jugular.

I paused to see what damage I had caused. Then, I was soaring across the room. Illfang had taken his shield hand and swatted me off. I landed on my stomach some twenty feet away from my groupmates.

"Ugh..." I moaned.

If there was a higher power out there, I silently thanked them for SAO's Pain Absorber. I can only imagine what that hit would have felt like with real pain. Nervously, I peeked at my HP bar, then sighed in relief. I had taken the hit surprisingly well; only a quarter of my health was gone.

"Are you OK Kat?" Dynamm called from across the arena.

"M'fine," I croaked, although I doubt he was close enough to hear it.

I gingerly picked myself up and went to retrieve my sword.

Harsh noises rang from across the battlefield. The combination of Illfang's roars and the clang of weapons upon each other filled the room, triggering my queasiness once more. My body begged me to not go back to Illfang, just let the rest of Group B handle him. I hesitantly looked towards my group, then at the door.

Trying to forget how overwhelmed I was, I sprinted back towards Illfang. I came up behind the giant humanoid and scaled his back, making my way towards his shoulders once more. After I struck him a second time, I didn't make the mistake of lingering. I launched myself off Illfang before his hand could send me flying across the room.

Jumping to various parts of his body was a learning curve, but it was working. Illfang had to free up his left hand to deal with me, rendering his shield hand useless. With no guard, the rest of my team had an easier time landing blows.

"We need to fall back," Agil commanded.

My groupmates healths were a combination of orange and yellow.

"Team A isn't ready yet!" A bearded man argued.

"We will find a solution," The ax wielder responded, "Diavel!"

Our commander saw our current state, and rearranged accordingly.

"Group B, fall back! Group C, go!"

Although my health bar was still in the green, I followed my teammates to heal. Unfortunately the potions in SAO are heal over time, so the only option we had was to stand by. As I waited for my HP bar to slowly tick back up, I began watching Group C's battle.

The group of swordsmen had circled Illfang, as per Diavel's orders, and were poised for attack. The humanoid paused, and replaced his bone axe with...a new weapon? I hadn't seen anything like it, the blade looked like an oversized Katana. My chest tightened as Illfang spun 360 degrees, knocking all players of Group C to the ground.

Why weren't they getting up? I focused on their icons. Each player's head was surrounded by yellow, an indication of temporary paralysis.

"Go!" Agil commanded Team B to rescue, our health bars nowhere near full.

We scrambled as fast as we could towards Group C, but there was too much distance between us. Illfang's secondary attack, a three hit combo, struck Diavel. The sickening noises of critical hits landing filled the chamber. The last blow sent him so far into the air that he landed on the other side of the room. Asuna's party member rushed over to him, presumably in an attempt to heal our commander. Diavel whispered something into his ear, then burst into blue fragments.

The room started to spin. Did he really just… die? I stumbled, and grabbed the arm of an unnamed group player to stay upright. The inside of my vision began to creep black, desperately begging me to pass out.

"Hey!" The nameless player shouted, shaking me back and forth in an attempt to rouse me.

Bit by bit, I regained full awareness. I let go of the other player, giving a gentle thank you nod. He apprehensively kept his arm around me, as if I would fall again.

I focused on the battle, the only thing that could take my mind off of what just happened. Looking at the arena, Asuna had ripped her hood off, chestnut hair cascading down her back. She and the player in black charged Illfang, presumably to eliminate his final HP bar. Watching Asuna fight for the first time was… incredible. Her moves were more confident and precise than mine would ever be. I did my best to suppress my jealousy, but it didn't help that the men around me were ogling her.

The duo's attacks were perfectly coordinated- if I wasn't in this situation I would have thought it had been rehearsed. Asuna was quick, and her rapier made swift strikes on the boss.

Her partner's attacks were strong, combined with a great defense. I watched him alternate between precise strikes and multiple parries. When his blade would clash with Illfang's the impact would generate blue sparks, creating the most beautiful mess I had ever seen.

He read one attack wrong, and Illfang's weapon sliced down his front. I watched his body seize, paralysis overtaking him.

"Come!" Agil commanded us once more, leading us towards the downed player.

With Illfang's last HP bar less than halfway, I had a newfound sense of confidence. I followed Agil towards the boss, adrenaline rushing through my veins.

Agil smiled at Asuna's companion, "We'll back you up until you finish your pots. Can't keep forcing a damage dealer to do a tank's job."

My group mates and I quickly began to deal with Illfang. I was hanging off his back when a flash of a rapier hit his shoulder.

"Eh?" I turned my head, looking for the source of the attack.

Asuna had remained with our group and was striking with her rapier whenever possible. I sighed, and continued my role in the battle. Why did she have to stay with Group B? Was she just trying to show off? She was so skilled that her attacks began to draw aggro. I stood on Illfang's shoulder and used Howl, shifting the attention back to the tanks.

A hit from my teammate took Illfang's HP bar under thirty percent, triggering a brand new attack pattern. He vaulted himself in the air, throwing me off in the process.

"Eep!" I squealed, flying through the air.

The attack had thrown me forty feet, and I slid another ten upon impact. Cringing, I waited for my body to break into blue shards. I exhaled in relief when I realized I survived, but my flashing red HP bar was a sickening reminder just how close I cut it. There was no returning to battle in this state, so I chugged a potion while watching the others.

Asuna and her teammate had rushed the boss, going after the last fragment of his health bar. In a fluid movement, she struck with a Linear, and her partner followed with an attack that had a "V" motion.

Illfang the Kobold Lord shattered into millions of blue shards. Sighing, I rolled on my back, finally allowing myself a moment of relaxation. I was happy that this battle was over. The first one had to be the hardest, right? But there was also a sliver of jealousy stuck in me. Asuna's job was to take care of Illfang's support, but she just had to come to save the day.

I picked myself up from the stony floor and went to find my sword. Who knows where it had landed when I had been catapulted through the air. Scanning the area, I noticed a familiar bronze shimmering by Agil's feet.

The ax wielder saw me approaching, and retrieved my weapon for me.

"One of a kind, aren't you?" He said, passing me my sword.

"Oh, uhm...I guess," I stammered.

He laughed, "I meant it only as a compliment. But a word of advice, if I may."

"Did...I do something wrong?" I asked, my eyes watering.

"Quite the contrary. I would just like to suggest a smaller weapon, as that one is slowing you down. Perhaps a short sword?"

"Oh...Thank you."

"Anytime. Good job today."

I nodded and made my way back to Kimiko, who had gathered with Fuurinkazan.

"Jesus Kat! That last hit you took was insane," She exclaimed.

I didn't have the heart to tell her that it had almost been my last.

"To be honest, that was the most intense thing I have ever seen," Takeo said, ruffling my hair.

He ruffled my tangled hair in the same manner as my brother. The small act immediately put me at ease.

"Thank you," I smiled.

A strangled sob rang out across the room.

"Why did you abandon Diavel to die?"

Kibaou began to argue with Asuna's companion, blaming him for Diavel's death. My stomach twisted as I was reminded of the moment- the lifeless look in his eyes before his body had burst into blue shards. The feud grew more heated before the player in black finally ended it.

"A former beta tester? Please...don't treat me like those amateurs," He smirked.

Apparently Asuna's companion had reached a higher floor than any other player in the beta, which gave him far more knowledge than us.

The majority of the raid began shouting "beta tester" and "cheater", their chants blending together and creating a new word in SAO: "Beater." I looked in fear at my raid party members. How could they be so fickle? This player was the reason Illfang had been defeated. Diavel had died in battle, but it was just an accident.

Without a word, the player in black left the arena. Some players yelled at him to get out, others angrily cursed him under their breath.

"Good job everyone," Agil's voice broke the tension in the room, "I think it is time we leave."

The raid party members gradually left Illfang's arena and trickled down the halls of the labyrinth to the awaiting exit. I walked quietly next to Kimiko, who was chatting with Fuurinkazan. For someone who had been inconvenienced by them, she sure didn't seem to mind hanging out with them.

I felt a pair of eyes on my back and glanced behind me. Asuna was walking by herself a few feet behind me. I was indecisive if I should talk to her, or simply let it be. Sighing, I fell back. Hopefully Kimiko wouldn't notice my absence.

I said nothing as I walked alongside Asuna. If she wanted to talk to me, she could be the first to speak.

"Hi, Kat," She whispered.

"Hey," I replied, avoiding eye contact.

There was an awkward silence between the two of us.

"So...how did you end up here?" She shifted uncomfortably.

"My dad got me a copy of the game."

"Oh," She paused, presumably waiting for me to ask how she got here. I chose not to, so she volunteered the information, "Me too...only the game was supposed to be for my brother. I just borrowed it because he was busy."

I nodded my head, and we continued to walk in silence.

"Kat...I'm really sorry," She said, eyes tearing up, "What I did was mean, and I shouldn't have."

"It's fine."

"No it's not," She sniffled.

"Don't worry about it. It was like five years ago," My tone came across a little harsher than I intended.

"Can...I send you a friend request?" She hesitated.

I paused. After everything that had happened, I wasn't sure if I wanted her to. Still, our circumstances weren't exactly normal.

"Yeah," I responded, before I could overthink it.

There was another long, awkward pause. It's strange how life shifts. If we were talking a few years ago, we could talk about anything and everything.

"Sorry about what happened to your friend," I grimaced, referring to the beater scenario.

"Oh. Kirito?" Her eyes shifted downward, "He'll be fine."

I was about to respond, but Kimiko had noticed I was missing.

"Kat? Why are you all the way back there?" She inquired.

"Coming!" I responded, then turned to Asuna, "I'll see you later."

"Yeah…"

I started walking away, then paused.

"Would you have been?" I questioned.

"Would I have been what?" She responded, confused.

"Sorry. If we weren't trapped here."

I quickly realized what I had said and turned crimson.

"S-sorry! I'll talk to you later," I spluttered, running to catch up with Kimiko.

* * *

Kimiko gave me the cold shoulder the entire way back to the Inn. After fifteen minutes, I couldn't take it anymore.

"What is it, Kimiko?" I inquired.

"Nothing," She huffed.

Normally I would just leave it at that, but she had been acting so strange since my conversation with Asuna.

"Yes, there is," I argued.

"It doesn't matter!" The coral haired girl spat back.

"Yes, it does."

"Fine! You knew that girl, didn't you?" She scowled.

"W-what?" I sputtered, "How could you have known that?"

"You don't talk to strangers unless you absolutely have to."

How did Kimiko know me that well after just a month? I considered forming some sort of lie, that Asuna and I had met briefly in The Town of Beginnings. But she would have seen right through it. And, Kimiko was my friend, and friends shouldn't lie to each other.

"Yeah."

"Well. If you're going to leave Celia and I to party up with her you should just go now. No reason to hang around us any longer than needed, right?" Kimiko hissed, folding her arms and looking away from me.

I went quiet. Well, more quiet than normal.

"I don't want to leave you and Celia," I squeaked.

"What?" She replied, her tone stuck between confusion and anger.

"I want to stay with you guys."

And before I knew it, the story between Asuna and I was tumbling out. I didn't care about the faux pas of talking about real life with Kimiko.

"That...bitch," She seethed.

"It was a long time ago," I said, looking at my feet.

"It doesn't make it right!"

"Just… don't tell anyone, OK?" I sighed.

"Why? They should know what a horrible person she is."

"Maybe. But she's a great swordswoman, and we need her to clear floors," I paused, "To get Celia out. Right?"

"Right," She bit her lip.

"Speaking of…"

Celia was running towards us, waving her hands. She had what appeared to be a green rug tied to her back.

"Guess what!" She enthused, not stopping to ask how our first boss battle went.

"What?" I responded.

"I bought a Vendor's Carpet!"

A Vendor's Carpet allows a player to sell goods and services to others without owning a store. Any goods placed upon it can only be moved by the seller, making theft impossible. When they're finished for the day, the merchant simply rolls the rug and the items are contained within it.

"You're going to sell your clothes?" I exclaimed, "Congratulations!"

Out of all the NPC vendors we have visited, her clothing and leather armor far surpassed their quality. As far as I knew, she would be the first player tailor in Aincrad. Once others hear about her they'll be flocking to get her merchandise.

"Uhm, when we're not out leveling," Kimiko scowled at her twin.

I cringed. This would not go over well.

"Kimiko, you and I both know I don't belong out there," She placed her hand on her sister's shoulder, "I can stay in town, and help other players. Give them the best leather armor and clothing in Aincrad!"

Kimiko rubbed her temples. She was caught between logic and her ever present concern for her sister.

"You won't leave town?" The hot headed twin uttered.

"Nope!" Celia cheered.

"...Fine," Kimiko exhaled.

* * *

I naturally wake up at six every morning- years of getting up early for ballet lessons. A new PM greeted me, the flashing icon glaringly obvious in my right view. It stays until the message is opened, an annoying constant reminder. I swiped up, irritated by the flickering image.

 _Klein:_ _Can I meet up with you and Kimiko? Craiin's Bar.  
_ _You: Sure. Is 9 am OK?  
_ _Klein: Sweet, see you then._

It probably would have been best to ask Kimiko first, but waking her was a bad idea. I let out a yawn as I got out of bed. How was it possible to be tired in a game where I wasn't technically sleeping? The only reason we rest is to fill our energy bar.

The process of getting ready in SAO is simplified- everything that needs to be done is just a press of a button. To change clothes you simply scroll through outfits you own, and the selected choice will equip to your body. There is an option to manually dress yourself, but why bother? With makeup, you select what you want to apply and choose the body part, eliminating any application errors. Not that it matters for me, I never wear any. It's a waste of Col, and I have no one to impress here.

Out of all the strange things in SAO, Celia was shocked that the bed was made upon your return to the Inn. I mirrored her surprise, but I was actually embarrassed that I have never made my bed. My family has had the same maid, Fumika, since we relocated to Japan. When I was younger she also doubled as a nanny, but when my brother and I were old enough she switched to housework only. There are days I miss Fumika more than my own mother. She treated me with love and care, while my mother was always strict and critical.

I spent the next two and a half hours thinking about life outside of SAO. Finally, Celia woke up.

"Morning, Kat," She yawned.

"Morning."

The coral haired girl stretched, "What are you doing today?"

"Well, I got a message from Klein. He wants to meet me and Kimiko at nine," I said, glancing at the sleeping girl.

"It's almost 8:30! Kimiko!" She shook her twin.

"Mmpf," Her twin responded in the pillow.

"Wake. Up," Celia demanded.

"Nn nuh," Kimiko rolled over and covered herself with the blanket.

Celia frowned, "Honestly Kat. She will probably sleep until twelve o'clock."

The girl stood up and ripped the blanket off of her sister.

"What're you doing?" Kimiko grumbled.

"You and Kat have a meeting. Get up," Celia placed both hands on her hips, trying to be authoritative.

"What're you talking about?"

"Well...Klein wanted-" I began, but Kimiko quickly interrupted me.

"Fuurinkazan?" She slammed her head back in the pillow, "Not a good enough reason to get me out of bed."

Celia spent the next five minutes trying to convince her sister to get out of bed, but she eventually had to resort to dragging her by her ankles.

"Swear to God Kat, this better be important" Kimiko mumbled, switching through her clothing options.

My face turned bright red. I hadn't considered asking Klein what we were meeting for.

"I'm sure it is…" I guessed.

"You don't even know what it's for?!"

Kimiko didn't talk to me until we reached Craiin's. We arrived at 8:55, greeted by a deserted bar.

"He's not even here. And why did he want to meet at a bar, anyways? It's morning!" Kimiko complained.

"Bartenders serve things other than alcohol," I answered, making my way to the bartender, "Two coffees, please."

"That will be 10 Col," The NPC responded.

I dropped the coins in his hand and grabbed a table with Kimiko.

"It's 9:01," She badgered.

"It's one minute past."

The door burst open, and Klein stood panting.

"Phew!" He smiled, "Thought I wasn't going to make it!"

Kimiko scowled and swirled her coffee with a spoon.

"Good morning, Klein." I smiled, motioning him over.

"Mornin'!"

"Good morning," Kimiko grit through her teeth.

The boy seemed oblivious to her displeasure. He pulled out a chair and sat with us.

"What did you need?" Kimiko snapped.

Embarrassed, I covered my face with my hand. Why did she have to come off as so rude?

"Er...I'll just get straight to the point, then. I wanted to see if you both would like to join Fuurinkazan. You two are great fighters and get along well with us, so..." He trailed off.

This was perfect. Kimiko and I could only do quests by ourselves for so long; now we wouldn't have to join a guild with random players.

"No," Kimiko stated.

I about spit out my coffee.

"Canyougiveusjustonesecond," I blurted, standing and grabbing Kimiko.

I dragged the girl across the room.

"Why not?" I questioned.

She crossed her arms, "We don't need them. We've been doing just fine on our own."

"Only for so long! It's just going to get harder from here. What happens when we do need more people? Are we just going to pick a random guild and hope for the best?"

"How do we know they have our best interests in mind?" She argued.

I sighed. Clearly, I would have to find some sort of middle ground here.

"How about… we make some sort of alliance with them? Like, if they need extra players, we'll be there, and if we need them, they can help us," I nodded my head as I said it, trying to get her subconscious to agree.

"...Fine."

I exhaled in relief.

We made our way back to the table and sat down.

"So, about that invitation…" I started.

Highlighting the benefits, I explained our proposition to Klein. I bit my lip after I was finished talking, hoping he would agree.

He shrugged, "Sure."

"Yeah?!" I responded, impressed with my poor negotiation skills.

"Yeah. Doesn't mean you can't join later, anyways," He smiled.

"Doesn't mean we will!" Kimiko crossed her arms.

Before Klein could respond, the bar door slammed open, almost taking the screen off the hinges. I fixed my eyes on the entrance, startled by the sudden noise. The jerk who had knocked me down after the strategy meeting barged in, looking just as angry as the first time I met him. Just thinking about our prior meeting made me irritable once more.

"Hey," Klein motioned the swordsman over.

Klein knew this guy? Maybe he wasn't aware of his character.

"Let me introduce you to our guild's newest member. Kat, Kimiko, this is Tetsuji."


	7. Chapter 7

**Floor 2**

* * *

I tried to be rational. His poor mood could be justified considering we were stuck in a game that will literally kill us. I'll just reintroduce myself and we can start over.

"Nice to meet you," I smiled.

Tetsuji looked at me and scoffed. Maybe rationality can be thrown out the window for this jerk. Fortunately for him, Kimiko had taken that moment to stir a sickening amount of sugar in her coffee, so she didn't catch his reaction. I can only imagine what she would have done should she had seen his impoliteness.

"Right," Klein said, standing, "I'm just going to grab some orange juice."

"Wait for me! I just want to set up some boundaries," Kimiko stormed after him.

I mentally screamed for them to come back and to not leave me alone with him. Tetsuji stood in silence, glaring down at me. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat while trying to avoid his gaze. Part of me couldn't help but wonder if he remembered our first meeting, and that's why he was being so rude.

"So," He finally stated, "Your name is Kat?"

That's what Klein had just said, wasn't it?

"Yes."

"Well, that's stupid. Who names themselves after an animal?"

I turned bright red; It was K-A-T not C-A-T! The nerve of this guy. I just met him and he has the gall to brush me off then insult me. Why I ought to…

"You speak English, Tetsuji?"

Well, that's certainly not what I had planned to say.

He seemed taken aback, but quickly recovered, "Obviously. We have to take years of it in school."

"I meant fluently."

"Are you basing this off that I'm half white?" He narrowed his amber eyes at me.

"N-no!" I said, although I was using it to confirm my suspicions, "I've just never had a Japanese person compare me to a cat immediately. And, the way you pronounce it is different, like with a higher "A" sound."

Also, the Japanese word for cat is "Neko", so if his thoughts were in Japanese that's what he should associate a cat with.

A strand of his silver hair had fallen out of his bun, and he brushed it away from his face, "Ok, your point?"

It was just an observation, there wasn't actually a point to it. I bit my lip and shrugged. He scoffed at me again and crossed his arms. I decided if I had to be around this jerk for one more minute I might go insane.

"Anyways, I have to go!" I burst out.

I stood abruptly, almost flipping my chair over in the process.

"Bye," He said, not bothering to hide the disinterest on his face.

"Bye," I echoed, walking as fast as possible towards the door.

I instantly regretted our decision to team up with Fuurinkazan.

* * *

My blood boiled as I stormed down the street. Who does that guy think he is? Being rude to me after we had just been introduced, and I didn't even do anything wrong! He didn't even apologize for knocking me over in Tolbana. If I had to guess, he's just so ill-mannered that he doesn't remember.

I tried to push the interaction out of my head. What's important is forming plans now that we're on the second floor.

"Kat!" Celia's voice called from behind me.

Taking a deep breath to curb my frustration, I turned and smiled at the girl. She had her Vendor's Carpet strapped to her back, and it was swaying back and forth as she ran to catch up to me.

"How's it going?" I smiled.

"Good! I'm just going to set up for the day," She began stabbing her finger in the air, tapping at a user interface unseeable to me, "But before I do, I keep forgetting to give you this."

The tailor placed a new outfit in my hands.

"It took forever… I just kept trying to make you something with shorts or pants, because it would've been more practical. But I just couldn't picture you in anything but a dress," She began to frantically wave her arms, "But don't worry, there are shorts sewn in underneath!"

It was a piece of clothing that made me wonder how anyone could be so skilled. The bodice of the dress was white, but it perfectly transitioned into a black colorblock skirt. Two brown leather straps secured the back that was left all the way open, the leather carefully chosen to match the boots I wore.

"This is...beautiful," I murmured.

"You think so?" Her violet eyes crinkled into a smile.

"Absolutely. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now equip it!"

"Oh!" I had been so entranced by the garment that I hadn't even thought about wearing it. I quickly scrolled through my clothing options and hit equip.

"How does it look?" I asked, doing a little turn.

"Great!" She paused, "Well, I'm setting up here for today so…"

"It's your first day selling, right?"

"Yeah," The girl bit her lip nervously.

"It will go great. You are the best tailor in Aincrad," I affirmed.

"Thanks, Kat," She said, spreading out her carpet on the plaza.

"It's true. Uhm, I've got to go so…"

"Oh! I'll see you later," Celia smiled.

"Bye. Thank you again for the outfit."

"No problem!"

I waved goodbye to her as I walked down the street. Hopefully, her first day of selling would go well. I knew she was the best tailor in Aincrad, but other players didn't. She just needs to sell a few items and word of her skill would circulate.

Now, what was my strategy for the second floor...

"Kat!"

I bit my lip in irritation. Did everyone need me today? Turning around, I saw Asuna running to catch up with me. I mentally sighed, but stood still to allow the girl to reach me.

"Hey," She panted.

"How's it going?" I asked, out of obligation.

"Good."

"Well...that's good," I responded.

She paused, "Well, I was just about to go leveling, and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me…"

Asuna winced as she said it, as if she was expecting me to say no. I highly considered that option.

"Ok."

"Yeah?" She exclaimed.

"Yeah…"

I couldn't avoid her forever. If we would both be clearing floors we may as well get on cordial terms now.

* * *

Asuna and I trekked through the savannah, an uncomfortable silence between us. Eventually, it became too much to bear.

"Well, Kayaba sure did replicate weather well," I rubbed the back of my neck, which was pooling with sweat.

"Yeah...maybe we should have brought some water," Asuna commented.

"Maybe. But, I don't think we can die of dehydration…"

Another awkward pause.

"I think we'll be coming up on some enemies soon," She said, her voice strained with forced cheerfulness.

The synergy between us was feigned and uncomfortable; I wasn't sure why I thought this would be a good idea. I began to form an excuse of forgetting to take care of something so I could escape this situation. My mouth opened right as Asuna began to speak.

"Look at that!" She exclaimed.

I scanned the savannah. What I thought was a small rock formation was actually a pile of dead enemies.

"Shouldn't they have broken into shards?" I inquired.

"Yeah…"

"Well, we can go look."

Asuna bit her lip. I had a feeling she didn't want to, but she wasn't going to disagree with me given our current relationship.

"Ok," She responded.

We broke out into a light jog towards the scene but fell short as a horrible odor filled our nostrils. In addition to weather, Kayaba had also flawlessly replicated smells.

Backpedaling away from the scent, Asuna and I looked at the aftermath of the battle. On the floor lay almost two dozen dead Taurus Strikers, and three Ogres.

"How...how long do you think they've been there?" I asked Asuna.

"Probably a day or two...they haven't started to bloat yet," She responded.

"Jesus, Asuna!"

My stomach had already been on edge from the smell, and Asuna's words threw me off the edge. I turned away from her to vomit, but I was so dehydrated it was only waves of dry heaving.

"Oh!" She began waving her hands frantically, "I'm sorry Kat, I forgot!"

She was, of course, implying how weak of a stomach I had.

"S'Ok," I mumbled.

"So...what do you think happened?"

"They must not get along… I didn't even know there were Ogres on this floor. Nothing in the beta manual about it," I replied, making sure to not look at the aftermath of the combat.

"Makes you wonder how much Kayaba changed each level," Asuna sighed.

"Yeah. Well, let's get out of here."

Asuna and I began to walk away from the battle when we heard a faint cry.

"Was that…" She started.

"...A baby," I ended.

I glanced behind us. Amidst the monsters covered in blood, a small, green arm poked out from beneath a blanket.

"It's just an Ogre," Asuna stated.

"It's a baby, Asuna," I worried.

"Still, what are we going to do with it? Keep it and raise it as a pet?"

"But…" I trailed off.

There was a minute of silence between us.

"Ok," She uttered.

"Yeah?" I responded.

"Yeah. Well...are you going to get it?"

I hadn't even considered that I would need to walk past gore and the foul odor to grab it.

"...Oh."

She sighed, "I'll get it."

Asuna leaped over the dead enemies and grabbed the basket it was in. She ran back and sat the baby Ogre in front of me, unsure of what to do with it. I hadn't considered what we should do, either. Fortunately, a golden exclamation mark appeared over the child's head, indicative of a quest.

"Alright!" Asuna exclaimed, giving me a high five.

We would gain far more experience and Col from a quest than walking around and slaying Taurus Strikers.

"But, uhm," I said, "It's just a baby...how will it direct us on a quest?"

"Oh, yeah," Asuna frowned.

I bent down next to the basket the infant was in and peered inside. The humanoid was wrapped in a large blanket, and was placed on a pile of pillows. Although it was a beast, the baby laughed and smiled at me as a human would.

"It's kind of cute, actually," I giggled.

"Don't get too attached!" Asuna warned.

I nodded as I sifted through the basket. Just as I was about to give up, I found a piece of paper tucked in between the basket and bedding.

"What's it say?" Asuna asked.

"Uhm…" I unraveled the parchment, _"The Ogress of Fergs. The Taurus's have been ruthless in hunting our next queen. For her safety, we have created a new base and will be transporting her there. Shall we be stopped...God help the Ogre Clan._ And there's a map below it."

 **Do you accept this quest?** Popped up on my menu screen. I looked up at Asuna, who gave me a confirmation nod. I tapped **ACCEPT** and stood up.

"Now to just decode this map…" I muttered.

After five minutes of deliberating, the two of us agreed the endpoint was where the mountainous region and the wasteland area connected.

"That's a bit of a hike," I sighed.

"Better get going now then," My partner announced.

I fumbled with the weight of the basket as I picked it up. It wasn't a simple task carrying a baby Ogre, given it was the size of a small child.

"Erm...do you want help?" Asuna asked.

"Yeah," I responded, setting down the basket.

With each of us holding a handle it evenly distributed the weight so we could swing the child freely, creating a homemade baby bouncer. The two of us would sway her back and forth in perfect synchronization, making her break out into fits of giggles. Even in Ogre noises, it was adorable.

"We should name her," Asuna commented.

"Oh, and I'm the one getting too attached?" I teased.

"Whatever! Uhm, what do you think for a name?"

"Hm...How about Reina?"

"Ok," Asuna paused, "Where'd you get that from?"

"It means queen in Spanish. I had time to learn another language after-"

I stopped there. After Asuna and I had stopped talking to each other, part of my extra time was spent learning Spanish.

"Oh," She said, biting her nails, "Kat, I-"'

The sound of hooves coming towards us cut our conversation short. One Taurus Striker was galloping towards us, axe in hand.

"I'll get him," She muttered.

Asuna charged in front of Reina and I, unsheathing her rapier. Just as the girl was about to strike, it leaped over her. The look of confusion on her face mirrored mine. She had her weapon raised, and was generating plenty of aggro. There was no reason for the Taurus to disregard her.

Still, the beast rushed towards me. As it drew near, I noticed the position of its body. The weapon wasn't poised to attack, but its non dominant hand was outstretched. The striker had no interest in Asuna or I- it wanted the baby.

"No!" I shouted.

At the last moment I slid Reina's basket across the savannah, out of the Striker's reach.

With a quick slash of my shortsword, I severed the arm that was attempting to grab the infant,

Impairing the beast's ability to take her away.

Asuna had made her way back to the battle.

"What the hell happened?!" She demanded, presumably confused by the Striker's disinterest in her.

"I think it just wants Reina. It's not interested in us unless we get in the way."

The Striker snorted, the bull ring in its nose flying upwards. It dropped the axe and grabbed a blowing horn from its saddle.

"I don't think that will be good," I fretted.

Asuna dashed forward in an attempt to silence the beast, but it was too late. The Taurus Striker had blown into the horn, albeit for less than a second. Cursing, she quickly finished the beast off, and it burst into thousands of fragments.

"We should probably get going. There's about to be a lot more of them around," Asuna worried.

"I have an idea," I said, grabbing Reina's blankets from the basket.

Asuna raised her eyebrows at me, "Not that I doubt you or anything Kat, it's just that we need to leave before the rest of them get here."

"I know, I know."

I twisted Reina's blankets around me in a makeshift baby wrap. If they wanted to take her, they would have to get near me. I explained my idea to Asuna as I wound the blanket around my body.

"Oh!" The girl exclaimed.

"Yeah. Now can you tie it in the back?"

With the infant secured, the two of us hurried away from the scene.

* * *

"How much further do you think we have to go?" Asuna worried.

"I don't know...maybe a mile?" We had been walking for quite some time, and I could see the wasteland approaching.

"That's not too bad, I guess."

And it wouldn't have been, but the noise of hooves began to fill the empty savannah. The sound was deafening, and the beasts were yet to be seen.

Asuna turned white, "I wonder how many there are."

"I'm not sure," I choked.

The amount was irrelevant; it was obvious by the noise there were too many for Asuna and I to fight by ourselves. I glanced at the upcoming wasteland. Do we make a run for it? It may have worked, if I wasn't carrying a forty pound infant.

"I guess we only have one option…" I turned around, and faced the oncoming horde.

"Yeah…"

We faced the horizon to see the group of Striker's approaching. There were at least thirty - more than in the battle we found Reina in.

"Any other ideas?" I asked.

"Nope."

So this was how my time in SAO was going to end. A bit of a shame, really, if anything I was hoping to be taken out by a floor boss. I absentmindedly grabbed Asuna's hand.

She smiled at me, "Until the end."

I nodded, and we unsheathed our swords. Although I was the type to go down without a fight, Asuna never had been.

The beasts grew closer, and I positioned myself in a fighting stance. Then, a disgusting roar rang out from behind us. Startled by the noise, I turned around. Five fully grown Ogres were rushing towards us, clubs and maces drawn.

"Oh, no…" I uttered.

"Protect the queen!" One yelled.

My eyes widened as they ran past us into the pack of Taurus's. The tallest Ogre brought his mace down upon the skull of his foe, just one strike making the beast burst into blue shards. At the same time, he used his free arm to knock over another Taurus that was charging him. My mouth was agape at their sheer power and size.

Another Ogre let out a merciless roar as a Taurus jabbed its spear into his abdomen. With fury filled eyes, he picked the beast up by its head and crushed it.

"Ew!" I gasped, and shut my eyes.

"There wasn't even any guts, it just turned into shards. Pay attention!" Asuna commanded.

Amidst all the chaos, one Striker had slipped past the giant humanoids and was galloping towards us.

"Let's go!" My partner yelled.

I nodded. With my sword in my left hand, and right hand grasping the infant close to me, I braced myself for battle. Asuna didn't make the mistake of charging the Taurus this time. At the last moment she struck its eyes with her rapier, blinding the beast.

The Striker's blind rage must have given it a speed boost. The beast angled its horns down and began to charge me. I waited until the last moment and then parried, my shortsword colliding with its horns. With my weapon crashed into its horns, I found leverage and knocked the beast to the ground. Asuna gave it no chance to recover and shoved her rapier through its abdomen. As powerful as her attack was, the beast had a sliver of health left. I dragged my shortsword along its throat, and the beast broke into fragments.

We watched the Ogres finish their battle. One had taken a fair amount of damage, losing almost three quarters of his HP bar, but all others had fared well. With one last swing of a club, the final Taurus was taken care of. Finished with their targets, they turned and faced us. My heart began to pound - Ogres weren't known for being friendly.

"Braap!" Reina burped, spit up spilling onto my chest.

"Oh, gross!" I used the edge of her blanket to wipe the mess off of me while simultaneously trying not to vomit.

"Kat!" Asuna hissed at me.

"Huh?" I turned back to see all Ogres on one knee.

"Thank you," Said the tallest, "For saving our queen."

"You're welcome!" Asuna responded.

"Oh uhm, no problem," I said, surprised at the way he spoke. I always assumed Ogres would have a… smaller vocabulary.

"Please, let us compensate you in return for escorting our queen."

"Oh you don't-" I started, but Asuna nudged me, "I mean...OK. Thank you."

"Thank you. My name is Jorg, and I am the commander of our combative unit."

"I hope you don't mind me asking but...why is your queen so young?" Asuna questioned as we made our way towards the Ogre base.

"The Taurus Strikers have been trying to eliminate our kind for quite sometime now. Unfortunately, they raided our prior camp and were able to kill Gevirah's mother, our previous queen."

Reina's name was actually Gevirah? I felt a small pang in my heart. Although we had only been together a short amount of time, I had grown fond of the infant.

"Well, here we are," Jorg commented, and looked at me.

I still had the child in the baby wrap.

"Oh," I said, undoing the straps of the makeshift holder, "Bye R- er, Gevirah."

I passed the baby to Jorg, and he cradled her in his arm. Whilst she looked massive next to me, she was perfectly in scale with him.

"It's OK Kat," Asuna whispered in my ear, "She looked more like a Reina to me."

"Please accept this as a token of our gratitude," Jorg gave us 5000 Col, a large mace, and a leather loincloth.

We split the Col, and Asuna took the mace while I accepted the loincloth. The mace was worth more, but it didn't really matter. The cloth could be broken down into rare materials for Celia.

"Thank you, Jorg," Asuna and I bowed, and left the settlement.

Our walk back was in silence, but not an awkward one. This time, it was a comfortable quiet. The type of silence where you can just be with someone without having to say anything. I didn't even realize how quickly the time had passed when we reached the town.

"Well...I'll see you later," I smiled at Asuna.

"Yeah. Bye, Kat."

I started walking away, but she called after me.

"I always have been, Kat."'

"Huh?" I responded.

"What you said in the first labyrinth. I was always sorry, I just didn't know how to tell you."

I smiled and nodded. In that moment, I had a feeling that things would be OK between us.


	8. Chapter 8

**Floor 3**

* * *

The furious sound of swords clanging together rang through my ears. Fuurinkazan, Kimiko and I stood in the bushes, watching a Forest Elf and Dark Elf fight to the death. We would assist one of the elves, which would begin a campaign quest lasting us until the ninth floor.

"I still don't know which one to pick," Klein said.

"Let's go with the Forest Elf. I always like being on the 'good' side," Takeo replied.

"How can you tell he's the good one?" Klein asked, raising his eyebrow.

"I don't know. I guess I'm basing it off his features, and the name."

The Forest Elf was very pale, with platinum blonde hair. This was in stark contrast to the Dark Elf, who was tattooed and had dark purple hair. Golden exclamation marks hovered above both elves, teasing my two comrades on who to choose for the quest.

"What if the Dark Elves have better stuff?" Klein asked.

"There's nothing in the beta tester manual that indicates that," Takeo argued.

The two continued to squabble about which elven group to side with while the rest of Fuurinkazan stood idly next to them. I too, had no preference.

"It's not that fucking hard of a decision," Kimiko hissed, grabbing her axe.

The hot-headed girl twirled her axe in her hand and stormed into the battle. I covered my hand with my mouth, horrified at her brashness.

She drove her axe into the exposed area of the Dark Elf's neck, where his high-level armor didn't cover his skin. The Forest Elf momentarily glanced at her, and the exclamation mark above his head transformed into a question mark, indicating a new quest.

"Okay, I guess," Klein grumbled, making his way onto the field.

I shamefully followed him. Kimiko might not have felt bad for her actions, but I did. We weren't even part of Fuurinkazan; we just came along for extra support.

Although the Dark Elf was only two levels above us, his combination of armor and skill made him difficult to finish. Finally, his HP bar hit zero.

"Thank you all," The Forest Elf's gold and green armor clanked as he bowed. "For assisting me."

"Of course," Takeo replied.

"My name is Ecthelion. Please follow me to my base so I can properly reward you for the return of the Jade Key.

"Alright!" Klein said, pumping his fist in the air. I supposed he didn't care what side we were on anymore.

The Forest Elf's gaze fell on me, and he quickly fell on one knee.

"Excuse me," He said. "I didn't know there was such a fair woman in my presence."

My eyes widened and I felt my body turn crimson. "B-but I, um, well," I stuttered.

"It's probably a preset script. There's no way an NPC can actually tell what she looks like," Tetsuji stated. "He's very fortunate."

Kimiko started to yell at Tetsuji as I turned an even deeper shade of red.

"Being statuesque is much envied in my village. And her faint skin tone, as if only the moon shines on her."

Takeo burst out laughing. "Kat, can I walk you down the aisle?"

"It's probably her only chance, to be honest," Tetsuji said.

His second comment started another verbal onslaught from Kimiko.

"Let's just get going," I managed to squeak.

The walk over was mostly Fuurinkazan and Kimiko assaulting Ecthelion with questions about the Jade Key. I didn't care. I never cared, actually. My role was always assisting, not leading.

"Interesting, isn't it?" Kimiko said.

"Yeah…" I mumbled.

"Is that idiot bothering you?" She said, referring to Tetsuji. "Because I can yell at him more if you—"

"No, it's not him," I interrupted her. Although he was annoying. The guy had been rude to me from the time we met.

She frowned and pushed a lock of hair out of her face. "Alright."

The coral hair girl opened her mouth as if to add something, but we had arrived at the Forest Elf camp. Two guards dressed similarly to Ecthelion stood watch in front of the entrance, green banners gently fluttering behind them. I could see gold tapestry adorning the tents inside of the encampment.

"Woah," I said.

I had thought no one but Kimiko had heard me, as she was used to my quiet manner of speaking, but Ecthelion called to me. "Stunning, is it not?"

"Yeah…" I responded, taken aback. He shouldn't have been able to hear me from so far away. I couldn't help but wonder if the size of his elven ears also heightened his hearing.

"What was your name, Miss?"

"Kat."

"Miss Kat. I apologize for being so forward earlier. But you have many features that are much envied in my village. Along with what I mentioned earlier, your eyes are particularly rare, and are considered beautiful."

My eyes were a shade of red-brown, and often resembled garnet. They were an unusual color, but I had never thought too much about it. "Well…thank you, Ecthelion." I mumbled, not looking him in the eye.

Our group followed Ecthelion through the Forest Elf camp. I was stuck between wanting to keep up with everyone and wanting to stare at my surroundings. The Forest Elf camp wasn't strictly for decoration. There were various elven NPC shops, such as blacksmithing and tailoring.

Ecthelion eventually led us into the largest tent in the encampment. An older male and female elf sat upon thrones at the edge of the tent.

He bowed, going down on one knee. "King Asaph, Queen Nyx. I have brought the warriors who helped me with the return of the Jade Key."

King Asaph and Queen Nyx had the desired features Ecthelion had mentioned. Both were extremely tall and pale. However, King Asaph had the same platinum hair as Ecthelion, whereas Queen Nyx had a dark green shade.

I stared for a moment before scrambling to get down on one knee. _Duh, I have to bow in the presence of royalty._ Fortunately, my friends followed suit.

"Thank you all. We appreciate your loyalty to the Forest Elves. Please take this as a reward," King Asaph said.

One thousand Cor each was deposited to our account balance, which was generous for the difficulty of the fight.

"Ecthelion, have you found a mate? I wasn't aware you were looking," Queen Nyx said.

"A magnificent choice—she's quite the beauty," added King Asaph, nodding his head.

 _They're talking about me?!_ I turned bright red—being referred to as attractive was not something I was used to. In fact, this was probably the first time it had happened.

I saw Kimiko about to say something, and I jammed my elbow into her ribs. She could lecture Fuurinkazan and I all she wanted, but royal elves were off limits.

Ecthelion cleared his throat, and I swore I saw him turn the lightest shade of pink. "No, she is also a warrior."

"Shame." Queen Nyx frowned at me, and I wanted the floor to swallow me then and there.

"Warriors, if you can please continue to help us. There is a spider infestation within our forest, and we cannot find the source. If you can eliminate the nest, we would be eternally grateful," King Asaph said.

 _Spiders?_ I bit my knuckles and closed my eyes. I was so squeamish that any type of bug would have me running away screaming.

"Yeah, sure," Klein responded.

 _No. No. No. No._ I started to think of ways I could be left behind at the elven base.

"Thank you, warriors. Ecthelion will accompany you on your quest."

* * *

"We should've just sold Kat as a bride instead of doing this." Tetsuji rubbed his face in his hands.

We had been looking for the spider's nest for over two hours. In that time, we had no leads, and everyone had become a bit irritated. Well, everybody except for me. I was stoked I didn't have to battle spiders.

Kimiko was so tired she didn't even respond to Tetsuji's jab, which said a lot. "Let's just rest for a minute," she grumbled.

I bent over by the paths' edge and examined a pink flower. Although I'd been trapped in this game for a little over a month, I was still amazed by the realism of objects. The petals had the same grain as a flower in real life would, and I could feel the texture as I ran my fingers over it. Well, feel was relative. It wasn't as strong as touching something in real life, but I definitely felt something.

I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and fell forward, my hands gripping the soft soil of the forest. I felt sick to my stomach at what I saw. _It's a freaking spider._ I was frozen in place as I watched it crawl through the bushes.

"…Kat. Kat. _Kat!_ " Klein said, trying to get my attention. "What are you doing?" I didn't respond, so Klein looked at what I was focused on. "You found a spider? Alright!"

Instead of answering, I just listened to their plans. _Why did I stop to look at the flowers?_

"…so, we'll just track them back to the nest, then." Takeo said as he helped me off the ground. "Let's go!" He grabbed my hand and dragged me into the forest, searching the ground for spiders.

"Careful, you might make her boyfriend jealous," Tetsuji said, referring to Ecthelion.

 _I swear to god, one day I'm going to punch him in the face._ I liked Fuurinkazan, but that guy could really ruin the mood sometimes.

"I don't care. She's mine!" Takeo cackled, and lifted me over his shoulder.

He was being facetious, of course. Takeo and I had developed a brother and sister relationship over the past month.

"I didn't realize Kat was in such hot demand today," Dynamm snickered.

"Stop," I said, but my words were muffled into Takeo's back.

All I had wanted to do was go on a quest and get some XP. Instead, I was being humiliated and I had to go fight spiders. It wasn't how I pictured my day going.

Our group walked through the forest, following the path of spiders.

"Maybe I'm just paranoid…but have you noticed they're getting bigger?" Takeo said.

 _Bigger?!_ I lifted my head from Takeo's back and looked at the ground. What were once average sized spiders were now insects the size of my hand.

"We must be drawing near the queen's nest," Ecthelion said, a grim look on his face.

 _A queen?!_ How big would she be in comparison to her children? I almost threw up on Takeo's back thinking about it.

"It appears as though we've found it." Ecthelion pointed to a cave with a massive spider crawling around the outside. It was half the height as I was, and much, much wider.

For once, I spoke first. "Is that the queen?!" I couldn't contain the frantic tone in my voice.

"No, that's a Thicket Spider. We should encounter many of those, and their larger counterparts, the Copse Spiders."

 _Larger?!_ Takeo took that moment to set me down, and I almost clawed my way back up his back. I didn't want to be around one of those.

"Time to go." He patted me on the head.

Our group walked towards the opening of the cave. Kimiko charged the Thicket Spider like it was nothing more than a common boar while I hung in the back. _If I can't even help with a Thicket Spider, how will I help with the queen?_ I mentally kicked myself for being so weak.

We peered into the opening of the cave, but it was pitch black, so we didn't see much. The other dungeons we had been in had some sort of lighting, such as oil lamps.

"Why are there no lights?" Takeo asked Ecthelion.

"This is a naturally made dungeon."

"So, how do we see where we're going?"

Ecthelion picked up a branch, and with a snap of his fingers the end was lit. _How did he use magic?_ SAO was designed for weapon use only. Kimiko seemed to be wondering the same thing, and asked Ecthelion.

"Elves are a special breed that are able to use magic. It's not much, but we have some power." He lit a torch for each of us.

So, I had to fight giant spiders in almost total darkness, while holding a torch in one hand. _Great._

"Fortunately, both Forest Elves and Dark Elves have the ability to see in the dark."

 _That makes it better, I guess._ At least Ecthelion would be able to warn us when they're coming. I stepped in a puddle and it soaked my boots to my ankles. _No, this still sucks._

A Copse Spider darted across our path, and I stifled a shriek. If it was just Kimiko and I, I probably would have full on screamed. But looking bad in front of Fuurinkazan wasn't an option. I held my breath and followed Kimiko, who was slashing away at the beast.

I stood as far away as possible from the spider while still being able to attack. I drew my sword and slashed at the legs. It wasn't as effective as hitting the meaty body, but I couldn't bring myself to get that close.

The Copse Spider let out a small growl, and I heard the pitter patter of many feet come from further down the hall. _Oh god. Tell me that's not—_

"Prepare yourselves!" Ecthelion said, his voice echoing through the cave.

Four more Copse Spiders had shown up to help their brother. I almost pissed myself at the sight of five spiders that were as large as I was standing in front of me.

"Kat, you need to be tanking," Kimiko panted.

I was failing at my job. I was too afraid to get close to the spiders, so each had chosen a random teammate to attack. The battle had become absolute chaos.

I needed to get over my fear and help my friends. Although it felt as though my chest might close up, I leaped off the ground on to one of the spiders. I drove my short sword into its body and used Taunt, drawing its attention away from my friends.

The spider rose up on its hind legs, trying to throw me off. _At least I know I have its attention._ I pulled it over to a second Copse Spider, and used Taunt to distract the both of them. I tripped over the ridge on the spider's body, and my knee grazed the top. It was disgusting—the hair was coarse and matted. I didn't know it was possible that it felt worse than it looked.

"Balancing act" was a metaphorical phrase, but I couldn't help but notice how literal I had to take it. I was standing on the back of a bucking spider with a burning torch in one hand and trying to stab my short sword in the beast's back with the other. While trying not to burn, kill, or miss my strikes, I also had to keep aggro on the two spiders.

Fortunately, Takeo was also a tank, and he had managed to get three of the spiders under control. Which was good, because I wouldn't have been able to manage another three.

"Strike them in the abdomen!" Ecthelion directed.

My teammates followed his directions, stabbing their weapons in the spider's fleshy belly. In a few minutes, we had the group of Copse Spiders taken care of.

"Oh, fuck," Kimiko muttered.

"Hm?" I responded.

"It bit me."

Because the two of us were partied up, I had access to Kimiko's HP bar. 'Poisoned' appeared under her health bar, and ticks of health points were slowly draining away. Her bar was still half full, but the poison showed no sign of stopping.

"What do we do?!" I asked, watching my friend's health draw closer to the yellow zone.

"She needs an antidote potion," Ecthelion said.

"Do you have one?!" I asked Kimiko. She looked surprisingly calm despite the fact her HP bar was slowly draining to zero.

"No. I didn't think to bring any."

I didn't bring any either—how was I supposed to know spiders were venomous? I'd avoided them my whole life. "But, but you're hurt, and—"

"Fucking Christ, will you stop?" Tetsuji threw me an antidote potion —which I didn't catch— and it hit my body and fell to the floor. "You should stick to not talking. Your voice is so annoying."

Klein hit him upside the head before Kimiko had the chance to tell him off. I wasn't going to say anything, because even though he was an asshole, he helped me out. _Well, I won't say anything no matter what the situation._ I picked the potion off of the floor and handed it to Kimiko, who chugged it and a health potion from her inventory.

"Well, let's keep going," Klein said, trying to break the awkward tension.

Our group continued to wander down the corridor, breaking open random chests we found along the way. We had to fight the occasional Thicket or Copse Spider, which was disgusting, but manageable.

 _By the time I get out of here, I should be cured of my spider phobia._

"What was that?" Kunimittz asked.

"I didn't hear anything," Harry One responded.

Takeo held up his hand, a silent request for them to stop talking. In three beats, a soft rumble came from the left path of the corridor. "Well, I know where we're going."

 _Alright. I just took out like, fifteen spiders that were my size. One more spider will be nothing._

Klein poked his head into the final room, and all color had drained from his face when he turned back from us. _It's one last spider, how bad can it be?_ He held up three fingers and brought them down one at a time. Three, two—we all rushed into the room as he put down the last finger.

The spider awoke from her sleep as we entered the room. I thought the Copse Spiders were big, but she was absolutely massive. Her body was the size of a trailer, and appeared to have a harder shell than her children. She stretched each of her eight legs as she stood up, emphasizing her size. Nephila Regina appeared over her head, along with two HP bars.

 _So, it can be that bad._

No way in hell could I get near that thing. I would freeze up and die. But I also couldn't turn around.

"Let's go!" Klein said, and the group began to rush the spider while I stood rooted in place.

I watched Takeo take the majority of Nephila Regina's wrath. His steel armor absorbed her strikes, and he showed no fear as he fought back. _How is he so brave?_ I nearly pissed myself every time I went into battle, but my friends rushed in fearlessly.

Nephila Regina struck Takeo in the neck, which wasn't covered in armor, and he flew across the dungeon. I panicked and ran over to him.

"Are you okay?!" I said.

He tried talking to me through a coughing fit. "Fine. Just —cough— go fight."

Takeo said he was fine, but his orange HP bar made me think otherwise. _Still._ I bit my lip, and grabbed my short sword. "Okay."

I tried to push all negative thoughts out of my head as I ran towards Nephila Regina. _Don't think of all the daddy long legs you've nearly fainted at. Think of one of the Copse Spider's you just defeated._ I dismounted off of the ground behind my friends. The nice thing about SAO was that it exaggerated movement, and I could easily fly twenty feet in the air with my dexterity level.

I landed on Nephila Regina's back and immediately used howl, drawing her attention away from my teammates. The Queen used her front leg and swiped across the top of her body, trying to get me off. I jumped off of her, landing in the center of my group. She drew back, and I saw the exoskeleton around her fangs start to move.

"MOVE!" I yelled, tuck and rolling away from Nephila Regina. I lost my torch in the process, but I had a feeling the attack wasn't going to be good.

Ecthelion, Tetsuji, Kimiko, Dynamm and Harry One were able get out of the way in time. Klein, Dale, Issin, and Kunimittz were left covered in a green bile the monster had sprayed between her fangs.

"It's fucking poison!" Dale said.

The members that had been covered in the liquid were forced to heal themselves, leaving the five of us to finish the queen. We had already taken out her first health bar, and a sliver of the second was gone.

"Nice call," Kimiko said, putting herself back into an attacking position.

I didn't respond, just nodded my head. _I'm so sick of spiders._ Judging by the looks on my friends faces, they felt the same way. I launched myself in the air again, and shoved my short sword into Nephila Regina's eye. The blow made her stand on her hind legs, which gave the others access sensitive belly.

 _This feels like it's taking forever._ But, I was on the back of a giant spider, staring right into its basketball-sized eyes.

Finally, Tetsuji drove his enormous sword into Nephila Regina, and she burst into digital fragments. I didn't know the name for his weapon —again, the first video game I'd ever played— but it seemed a bit excessive. It was almost as tall as he was —6'2"ish— and was wider than both of my palms side by side. _Compensating for something?_

He cracked his neck as he watched the blue shards rain on top of him. "Finally."

"Thank you, warriors," Ecthelion said. "For eliminating the source."

The ten of us were partied up, so the rewards were given randomly to a player. Fuurinkazan got everything Nephila Regina dropped, which was fine with me, because I never wanted to see another spider in my life.

Kimiko waved for me to come over, and I did. "Check out what I got from the quest!" She held a patch in front of my face. It was the size of my palm, and a zig zag strip separated gold on one side, and green on the other.

"That's pretty."

"But _look_." She pulled the patch apart. It was actually meant for two people.

"Oh!" That was cute. She would probably give it to Celia.

"Here!" She said, passing me the gold half of the patch. I grabbed it, and watched her adhere the green side to the right-hand corner of her shirt.

I hesitated. It didn't seem right—the patch should go to Celia. They were sisters, after all. "I mean…are you sure you want to give it to me, and not Celia?"

Kimiko scowled at me. "I've shared my entire life with Celia. You're my best friend, and I want you to have that side of the patch."

 _Best friend?_ I turned pink. I considered her my best friend too, but I never thought she felt the same. "Okay." I stuck the patch to the top left side of my dress, making sure it wouldn't fall off. **All Stats Raised by 2%** appeared on my UI. "Huh?"

"How did that happen?" Kimiko seemed to be wondering the same thing.

Ecthelion had walked over to us. "Ah, the Forest Elf Union Patch. Those who wear it will have their stats increased while in the other's presence."

Well Kimiko and I were always together, so this was the best item we could have gotten.

"Alright!" She high fived me.

"Yeah," I said, smiling like an idiot. _The spiders were totally worth it._


	9. Chapter 9

**Floor 7**

* * *

 _How does time pass so quickly?_

The sixth floor had been cleared yesterday. The guilds worked slowly at first, but we had fallen in rhythm with one another and were now conquering floors at a reasonable pace. Our main obstacle was the different guilds fighting with each other. The leaders of certain guilds would argue over who should be in control in labyrinths, which would hinder the battle.

Earlier in the day Fuurinkazan, Kimiko, and I started to explore the seventh floor. We discovered a two-part quest that would be accomplished quicker if we split up. I wasn't exactly thrilled about the "split up" idea, because it meant I had to be alone with Tetsuji. The two of us had the matching skill set to do the smaller half of the quest, while Kimiko and Fuurinkazan would fight the monster.

The group agreed on a quick break before the quest. Takeo and I laid in a meadow outside of town, my head resting on his chest while he draped one arm around my side. I ran my free hand through the grass, fingering each blade.

"Isn't it weird how you can smell it?" Takeo said.

"Huh?"

"The grass. It's just like laying in an actual field."

"Oh. I suppose so."

"You don't agree, do you?" He said, tilting his head down and laughing.

"I mean. It doesn't make me itchy like real grass does. And even though it smells and has texture, there's something different about it."

"Eh, I guess so."

There was a pause between us and I listened to the rise and fall of his chest, trying to time my breathing with his. This was simpler than fighting floor bosses, labyrinths, and grinding to level up.

"Is this who you wanted to be? In SAO, I mean," I said.

"And who is that, exactly?"

"Well, um, what we do. What all of the clearers do. Risk our lives to get all of the players out of here."

"It wasn't what I was expecting, but I don't regret my choice." He tilted his chin to look down at me. "Is it who you want to be?"

"It doesn't matter," I mumbled.

"Sure, it does. Why would you do something you don't want?"

I bit the inside of my cheek and looked away from him. "I'm here now, and I suppose that's what matters."

"You make your own decisions, Kat. No one will fault you for leaving. But you've gone farther in this game than most people have. Look at the thousands of people that haven't left The Town of Beginnings."

"But what if I'm not good enough?" I blurted.

"That's a stupid question. You've helped clear each labyrinth."

"No, I meant what if I'm not a good enough person? When I fight to get out, I mostly think of myself."

"If that's what drives you to get out, does it matter? Everyone else will come with you."

I hadn't thought of it like that. I'd only seen my selfish desires to get myself out of this game, back to everything that's familiar and safe. "I-I guess it doesn't."

"Exactly." The two of us stared into the digital sky, the pixels imitating a summer day.

I wasn't sure when I'd get back to my normal familiar and safe, but at least I was finding solace in my new reality. Being around Takeo was familiar and safe. Celia and Kimiko were familiar and safe.

 _I better get used to it, because it will be this way for a while._

"Am I intruding on something?" Tetsuji stood above us, his arms crossed.

"N-no!" I said, scrambling off of Takeo.

"Right."

 _Stupid jerk._

I stood up and wiped the dirt off my dress, avoiding his gaze. "Are you ready to leave?"

"Obviously," he replied.

"It's only for a few hours. We'll message you when we're done." Takeo rustled my hair and waved goodbye at Tetsuji and me. I watched him walk away, silently screaming for him to come back and to not leave me alone with Tetsuji.

"Are you going to stand there all day?" Tetsuji asked, not bothering to hide the irritation in his voice.

"Sorry."

Our quest was to retrieve a Manticore egg from its nest. We had no clue where the nest was, and Tetsuji's search skill was the highest in Fuurinkazan's, so it was logical that he went. When the two of us found the nest, it would most likely be in a high place. Assuming it was well placed, I was the only one with high enough acrobatics skill to reach it.

The rest of our teammates were on their way to distract the Manticore so we would have a wide-open nest.

Tetsuji pulled up his UI and selected his search skill.

"Are you guys dating?" he asked, looking more entertained than interested.

"What?! No."

"So, you just put your head on every man's chest, then?"

"Why do you care what I do?" I blurted.

"I don't. Just making an observation." He started walking into the forest, and I trailed silently behind him.

 _Today is going to be hell._

We said nothing as we walked alongside one another, which was fine with me. I had a feeling anything he said would make me want to slap him.

"Isn't that the Manticore?" I pointed at a beast roaming the forest. It had almost all the features of a Manticore—The body of a lion, wings, and the tail of a scorpion. The only thing it was missing was a human-like face.

"No. That's one of her children."

As it got closer, "Lesser Manticore" appeared above its head. I drew my short sword in preparation to slay the beast when I saw the second label. _Docile_.

"Eh?" I said.

I went rigid as the Lesser Manticore approached me. I didn't want to attack a docile creature, but it could rip me apart with talons that size. The beast snorted and shoved its nose under my hand, rubbing its face up and down my palm.

"It wants me to pet it?" I couldn't contain the idiotic smile that broke out across my face, and I scratched the monster's head.

Tetsuji rolled his eyes. "We didn't come here to get you a pet."

The Manticore had flipped on its back and I gave it a belly rub, trying to contain my quiet giggles. Tetsuji stood with his arms crossed but let me play with the creature for five minutes before leaving. We walked in silence for another ten minutes before he spoke.

"The fuck is that?" he muttered.

"I don't see anything."

"Obviously. You don't have search skill."

I didn't bother hiding the scowl that crept across my face. He put his hand up, a silent signal to be quiet. With the other, he drew his sword from his back. The two of us crept forward, looking for the presence that had shown up on Tetsuji's radar.

A man peered through a cluster of bushes into the clearing, intensely focused on something. He had his back turned to us and was oblivious to our presence. Tetsuji fixated on the man, his sword drawn as he assessed the danger of the person who stood before us. A verdict was made when his sword raised.

I saw the small label just as Tetsuji was about to strike. "It's an NPC, stop!" I grabbed his arm so he couldn't lower his blade.

When the NPC saw Tetsuji's weapon extended towards him, he fell over in surprise.

"God damn it, Kat! Just because it's an NPC doesn't mean it's not dangerous!"

"But he wasn't doing anything," I mumbled.

"You don't know that for sure. Jesus."

"I wasn't doing anything, I swear!" The NPC said. "I'm just trying to hunt these Lesser Manticores, ya'see? The pelts are worth a lot of money. If you're willing to take a few out for me, I'll reward you with three thousand Cor." A golden exclamation point appeared over the NPC's head.

My eyes grew wide and I shook my head, begging Tetsuji not to accept the quest. Killing the Lesser Manticores would be cruel; they're not a threat.

"I don't want to," I squeaked.

Tetsuji pinched the bridge of his nose. I knew he was irritated with me for not saying yes to such an easy quest. "Why don't you do it? They're docile," he asked the NPC.

"Ah, when you attack those buggers they go psycho on you. No way I could take one out by myself."

"Please don't." My eyes were downcast as I waited for Tetsuji to respond to the quest.

He was going to accept. Three thousand Cor was a lot of money, and he would have no remorse killing the Manticores.

Tetsuji's nostrils flared, and I watched his jaw move from his teeth grinding together. "It's fine. We're busy."

He dragged me away from the NPC towards our original path.

"Tetsuji, I, um—" I started.

"What?" He shot me a glare.

"It's just…I didn't think you'd decline the quest."

"If I accepted it, I would have had to listen to you cry about killing Manticores, and I'm not in the mood."

 _Of course._ It was stupid of me to think he had considered my input.

"We're getting closer," he said, tapping at his UI.

"That's good." I was so sick of him.

"Shit."

A twenty-foot ledge greeted us as we emerged from the forest, its shelf spanning past the horizon.

"I guess we're just going to have to walk around it," he said.

"What? We can make that."

" _You_ can make that. All of your skill is in Dexterity and Acrobatics. I'm allocated differently, idiot."

I turned light pink. He didn't have to call me an idiot just because I had forgotten he had different skills.

"Just…let's figure something out." I sprinted towards the wall and easily made my way up with the exaggerated movement of the SAO system.

Tetsuji wouldn't be able to climb the entire cliff, but he could make it up part way. Maybe I'd be able to help him with the rest. I laid on my stomach and wrapped the crook of my knees on the bushes that lined the rim. Using the branches as support, I leaned the upper half of my body over the edge and extended my arms.

"Just take my hands," I called to him.

Tetsuji didn't respond, and, even though I couldn't see them, I was sure he rolled his eyes. He sprinted towards the wall and his hands grasped mine, the force nearly ripping my shoulders out of their sockets. I grimaced and used the little strength I had to pull him up.

"That was actually a good idea." He said it as though I was incapable of having them. Tetsuji saw the sour look on my face and snorted. "What?"

"Nothing."

"Jesus. You never speak at all, even when something is wrong. I can't decide if it's annoying or convenient."

"Which way from here?" I pivoted. I didn't need Tetsuji reminding me of my flaws—I was quite aware of them.

"This way."

We walked another ten minutes in silence. I normally found comfort in silence—it came from being an extreme introvert—but Tetsuji's presence made me uneasy. I fiddled with my UI, desperately trying to keep myself occupied.

I gasped as I entered the calendar setting. "Is it January already?"

"It's already the fifth. Where have you been?"

"I don't know…it just went by so fast."

"Miss your birthday?"

His voice was dripping with sarcasm, but yes, I had missed my birthday. In real life I had been counting down the days until my seventeenth birthday, because that was one year closer to eighteen, and when I turned eighteen I would be a principal dancer.

Being seventeen doesn't matter anymore. There was no way we would clear the floors in less than a year. Even if we did, my body would have lost all muscle tone. It would take a year of training to reach the skill level I was at.

I crossed my arms and continued looking straight, not giving him an answer.

"What, born on Christmas?"

"Yes, actually," I replied.

"You're fucking with me."

"I'm not."

"Christmas. Makes sense why you're so bitter now."

"I am not bit—"

Tetsuji grabbed my forearm and pointed upwards. The Manticore nest was perched on a branch, slightly hidden between a ledge of the cliff.

"How did you see that?" I asked.

"Search skill. Now go get the egg."

I didn't respond as I darted up the cliff. Pieces of earth crumbled from under my foot each time my boot contacted with the ledge. I never let my foot hover for too long, because that was an easy way to fall to my death, and that wasn't how I wanted to die in SAO.

I hopped into the Manticore nest, and the twigs left small scratches on my legs as I walked towards the egg. The pain from the branches wasn't strong enough to turn off the sensors, and raw crisscrossed marks appeared on my skin.

The Manticore egg sat in the center of the (very large) nest. It was slightly bigger than a basketball and had an odd oval shape, with a bumpy golden pattern for a shell. I cradled it in my arm and noticed it was slightly firmer than a chicken egg.

 _Please don't let me break this._

"Got it," I called to Tetsuji.

He said something along the lines of "hurry up then" and I rolled my eyes as I tried to figure out how to carry an egg while jumping down a cliff.

I never found out. Talons dug into my arm, leaving digital blue marks in my skin. The Lesser Manticore that was once docile hovered in front of me, poised to attack. My heart raced as it let out a sickening cawing noise from the back of its throat.

I tried to regulate the beating of my heart as the beast hovered above me, its face locked in a menacing glare.

 _It's only one monster._

I had been through six floor bosses, five field bosses, and killed an endless number of wild beasts. One Lesser Manticore wouldn't be a problem, even if it was flying and I was seventy somewhat feet off the ground.

I cradled the egg in my right arm and drew my short sword with my left. The Lesser Manticore hovered in front of the nest but didn't descend to attack.

"Oh, c'mon," I muttered.

"Kat!" Tetsuji yelled.

I glanced away from the beast and my stomach dropped. All the Lesser Manticores I had declined to kill were flying toward me, ready to protect the egg. The nest was tucked into an L-shaped section of the cliff, and the first Lesser Manticore hovered in front of me, blocking my only exit.

If I waited, the entire pack of Manticores were either going to claw or peck me to death, neither of which sounded appealing. I held my breath, tucked my sword in its sheath, and jumped towards the Lesser Manticore.

Kimiko and I had continued to practice the martial arts skill, and I had been getting good at it. _Good_ being the key word. I never thought I would have to use the skill. But as I flew through the air, leg extended, I realized I was so, so, wrong.

My side kick collided with the beast's belly and the two of us hurtled towards the earth. If the Manticore didn't kill me, this fall surely would. I closed my eyes and braced myself for the impact.

I was on top of the Manticore as it landed on its back, the beast absorbing almost all the damage of the fall. Its health bar was flashing red, while I had lost only a sliver. I was already shocked I had survived, but it was a miracle the egg was intact. I looked at the Manticore, the egg, myself, and the egg again, in disbelief over what had happened.

"Pay attention!" Tetsuji had finished off the fallen Manticore while I had been amazed I wasn't dead.

"Right." I placed the egg under a patch of bushes and grabbed my sword.

"If we get out of this alive," Tetsuji exhaled through his nose. "I'm going to kill you myself."

* * *

The Lesser Manticores were impossible to slay from the ground. I had to scale the cliff and knock them out of the air, and Tetsuji would finish them when they landed. While I was climbing the ledge, the beasts would dive bomb Tetsuji, their pecks draining his HP bar. By the time we had finished, both our HP bars were orange.

After the battle we sat on the ground, too exhausted to say anything. Which was fine with me. I knew the moment Tetsuji had energy he was going to lecture me about the earlier quest. I could hear it now.

 _If you weren't so emotional about killing the Manticores, this wouldn't have happened. We almost got fucking killed because of you._

Etcetera, etcetera.

Tetsuji stood and stared at me, a silent command for me to also stand. I scrambled to my feet to not further upset him. His amber eyes bore into mine, and I trembled as I waited for his onslaught.

"Listen to me." He grabbed both of my shoulders and kept his eyes fixated on mine. "This game. It's only going to get harder from here. You're going to have to do things worse than killing docile Manticores if you want to survive. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes," I managed to utter.

He let go of my shoulders and looked away. "Go get the egg."

 _That's it?_

I was expecting him to chastise me for being an emotional idiot about the Lesser Manticores, not to tell me to stay alive.

 _Does that mean he's not a complete asshole?_

I shook my head. No way.

He didn't talk about what happened on our journey back into town. We didn't talk about anything, really. When we reached the bar where the rest of Fuurinkazan waited I let out a sigh of relief.

"Hey!" Klein called as we walked in. "What took you so long? You guys had the easy job!"

I cringed as I waited for Tetsuji to rat me out to Klein. The embarrassment of what I had done might be worse than if Tetsuji yelled at me.

"There were multiple Lesser Manticores guarding the nest," Tetsuji replied.

"Ah? I thought it was supposed to be wide open if we distracted the boss!"

Tetsuji relayed the day's events, excluding why the Lesser Manticores attacked us.

 _What the hell?_

I wasn't sure why he didn't tell Klein about why they had attacked, but I was grateful. Maybe he had a sliver of compassion.

I tuned the conversation out when Kimiko went wild that I took the Manticores down with side kicks. Something about "being the best martial arts instructor in SAO."

"Kat? Did you hear me?" Tetsuji's voice snapped me out of my trance. "I said give the egg to Klein so we can finish the quest."

"Okay."

 _He's not_ that _bad._


End file.
